NYSE:AGM Federal Agricultural Mortgage Q1 2023 Earnings Report $173.91 +3.02 (+1.77%) As of 03:30 PM Eastern This is a fair market value price provided by Polygon.io. Learn more. Earnings HistoryForecast Federal Agricultural Mortgage EPS ResultsActual EPS$3.56Consensus EPS $2.96Beat/MissBeat by +$0.60One Year Ago EPSN/AFederal Agricultural Mortgage Revenue ResultsActual Revenue$84.41 millionExpected RevenueN/ABeat/MissN/AYoY Revenue GrowthN/AFederal Agricultural Mortgage Announcement DetailsQuarterQ1 2023Date5/9/2023TimeN/AConference Call DateTuesday, May 9, 2023Conference Call Time4:30PM ETUpcoming EarningsFederal Agricultural Mortgage's Q1 2025 earnings is scheduled for Monday, May 5, 2025, with a conference call scheduled at 8:30 AM ET. Check back for transcripts, audio, and key financial metrics as they become available.Q1 2025 Earnings ReportConference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptSlide DeckPress Release (8-K)Quarterly Report (10-Q)Earnings HistoryCompany ProfileSlide DeckFull Screen Slide DeckPowered by Federal Agricultural Mortgage Q1 2023 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrMay 9, 2023 ShareLink copied to clipboard.There are 7 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Afternoon, and welcome to the Farmer Mac First Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. All participants will be in listen only mode. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask Please note this event is being recorded. I'd now like to turn the conference over to Joppa Nazareth, Senior Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead. Speaker 100:00:33Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us for our Q1 2023 earnings conference call. I'm Zolpi Nasrich, Senior Director of Investor Relations and Finance Strategy here at Farmer Mac. As we begin, please note that the information provided during this call May contain forward looking statements about the company's business, strategies and prospects, which are based on management's current expectations and assumptions. These statements are not a guarantee of future performance and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause our SEC filings for a full discussion of the company's risk factors. On today's call, we will also be discussing certain non GAAP financial measures. Speaker 100:01:21Disclosures and reconciliations of these non GAAP measures can be found in the most recent Form 10 Q and earnings press release posted on Marmaxx website, farmermax.com, under the Financial Information portion of the Investors section. Joining us from management this afternoon are our President and Chief Executive Officer, Brad Nordholm, who will discuss Q1 business and financial highlights and strategic And Chief Financial Officer, Aparna Ramesh, who will provide greater detail on our financial performance. Select members Our management team will also be joining us for the question and answer period. At this time, I'll turn the call over to President and CEO, Brad Nordholm. Brad? Speaker 200:02:02Thanks, Jalpa, and good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for joining us today. I'm very pleased to announce we delivered a great quarter With new all time records for revenue, earnings and net effective spread and All time records in the growth rates of these three metrics. Our results not only highlight the resiliency of our business model, Our disciplined approach to asset liability management and our successful efforts over the last few years to grow and diversify our revenue streams, but also the alignment of our team with our long term strategic objectives and passion for fulfillment of our mission throughout changing market cycles. For some time, Aparna and I have talked with you about our disciplined approach to asset liability management. Speaker 200:02:57We've emphasized that our ability to issue long dated fixed rate debt in all rate environments and economic cycles It's a core competitive advantage that when combined with our approach to asset liability management helps to produce consistent spreads and provides remarkable forward visibility to future earnings. The recent volatility in the capital markets and failures Of depository institutions provide a stark contrast between Farmer Mac and banks. We're not a bank and we don't rely upon deposits as a source of funding. The terms governing our debt securities are contractual in nature and we, Not depositors hold the optionality of when and how to call our debt. We will continue to talk about these differences and why Farmer Mac's business model is resilient and has the ability to deliver such consistent results. Speaker 200:04:00In the Q1 of 2023, we booked core earnings of $38,900,000 50% increase over the same period 1 year ago. We provided a gross $1,700,000,000 in liquidity and lending Capacity to lenders serving rural America, resulting in total outstanding business volume growth of over 500,000,000 from year end to $26,500,000,000 as of March 31, 2023, which annualized is about a 7.5% growth rate. The volume growth this quarter was primarily attributable to the efforts we've made over the last few years to diversify our business model Across numerous key markets, we achieved $608,000,000 of net new business in rural infrastructure. We acquired nearly $100,000,000 in telecommunication loans in the Q1 of 2023 as there is Growing investment in fiber and broadband in rural America. These telco assets are highly accretive In terms of NES and are another reflection of our attempts to diversify our asset portfolio. Speaker 200:05:12We remain committed to increased investment in the telecommunication and broadband sectors, which are highly mission centric, And we look forward to providing additional updates on this new avenue of growth for Farmer Mac. Our renewable energy portfolio also Experienced a strong start to the year with approximately $80,000,000 in net growth from several counterparties. Our participation in broadly syndicated renewable energy transactions has increased the number of potential counterparties to source transactions from in future years. The pipeline remains strong in near future as we continue to focus on upsizing existing deals and bringing on new renewable energy opportunities with additional resources committed to this area. Outstanding volume in the agricultural finance line of business was relatively flat from year end, largely due to continued economic uncertainty and broader market volatility. Speaker 200:06:16We do see opportunities to help our customers with their Volume in the Farm and Ranch segment declined sequentially due to two reasons. The first is the seasonally large number of Schedule payments due to the majority of the Farm and Ranch loan customers, which are annual or semi annual With payments falling on January 1st the year. The second is that many of those borrowers during that period of time are focused on the renewal of existing lines of credit ahead of the spring planting season. Outstanding volume in our corporate ag finance portfolio was relatively Flat from year end as persistent volatility and uncertainty in the market slowed down deal opportunities in the Q1 with many transactions on pause Waiting for signs of stabilization in the macroeconomic outlook. When we spoke to current and prospective During the recent Global Ag Investing Conference in New York, we heard a recurring theme that there was a large balance Institutional money ready to be put to work in the cultural space. Speaker 200:07:33In recent weeks, we have also seen more opportunities They continue to be accretive from a net effect of spread standpoint. We remain focused on this sector. It's Key component of our diversification strategy, central to our mission and impactful of earnings and continued growth. We told you about our successful execution of our 3rd securitization in February of this year on our call, And we continue to receive excellent market feedback as well as demand for agricultural backed securitization products. This program aligns very well with our core mission to lower our costs for our N Bowers and improve credit availability in rural America. Speaker 200:08:20We remain committed to being a regular issue in the securitization market. It's now become routine for us with a set of securitization products that align with borrower and investor interests. Looking ahead, our underlying business model, Our strong capital position and our uninterrupted access to debt capital markets throughout the various market disruptions Uniquely possessions us to partner with our customers to help them manage their business and the risks they face around future capital requirements And liquidity. The foundation of our strategy is our consistent financial and operational execution, Coupled with proactive management of our balance sheet and funding sources, which has and we expect will position us well in changing credit environments and create more opportunities to enhance shareholder value and fulfill our mission. Now I'll turn the call over to Aparna Ramesh, our Chief Financial Officer, to discuss the results in more detail. Speaker 200:09:26Aparna? Speaker 300:09:28Thank you, Brad, and good afternoon, everyone. Our record Q1 2023 results highlight our balanced, well measured approach, Continuing strong credit quality and resiliency across market cycles. We achieved $1,700,000,000 of new business volume this quarter. And some of the key components include $500,000,000 in rural infrastructure at Vantage Funds, $145,000,000 in gross corporate agricultural finance loan purchases, which is about 135% higher than last year at this time and $73,000,000 in gross renewable energy loan purchases. After repayments, we grew About $600,000,000 this quarter in our outstanding business volume and this speaks to the benefit of our diversified portfolio. Speaker 300:10:20And notably, there's been strong execution in our rural infrastructure line of business. Core earnings were $38,900,000 $3.56 per share in the Q1 of 2023. And this reflects, as Brad noted, a 50% year over year growth That's driven by record net effective spread of $77,200,000 in the Q1 of 2023 compared to $57,800,000 in the same period last year. As Brad highlighted, Despite the earnings pressure that many financial institutions are currently facing, our net effective spread this quarter increased appreciably and was at 115 basis points. This was primarily driven by significant reduction in our cost of borrowing And strong pricing in the rural infrastructure sector. Speaker 300:11:14Despite short term interest rates peaking, our cost of funds have trended Systematically downward. This is because of our disciplined asset liability management practices where we hedged our risk effectively, while changing our funding mix to take advantage of opportunities as the yield curve changed. Another significant driver of the low cost of funds It's from the low cost debt and capital that we raised opportunistically when rates were at historical lows in 2020 2021. These decisions have continued to pay off as we've reduced the need for us to raise more expensive term and callable debt in a rising rate environment. This benefit is expected to continue to create a downward pressure on our non GAAP funding costs as the short end of the curve continues to increase with said actions And the reinvesting of excess capital generates additional return with an upward repricing of our short term investment portfolio. Speaker 300:12:15While the rise in short term interest rates has provided an asymmetric benefit to earnings, we project limited downside to earnings when rates decline. The reason for this is that we expect to retain some of this benefit over the medium term if rates were to decline as we have proactively extending maturities in our investment portfolio. Again, these are all practices and are an example that are consistent with our disciplined approach that's designed to help minimize earnings volatility. Brad highlighted important differences between our business model and those of traditional depository institutions. In the wake of the banking crisis, we voluntarily conducted a review of our own asset liability management practices. Speaker 300:12:59The results of this review highlighted that our disciplined hedging strategy, where we match the duration and convexity of our assets and liabilities And all rate environments have significantly contained earnings volatility. Our liquidity and capital positions are well in excess of all regulatory ratios, and our projections show minimal change in our profitability and market value, regardless of the direction and size of any rate shock that we might apply to stress our balance sheet. We highlighted improvement in pricing in the Rural Utilities segment, which has also been a contributor to the higher NES in the Q1 of 2023. This was driven by higher spread volumes related to the telecommunications sector. And this sector has nearly doubled year over year to $356,000,000 as of March 31, 2023. Speaker 300:13:53This increase was slightly offset by flat to lower pricing In the agricultural finance line of business that stem from increased competition for high quality credits and limited loan origination in this sector. However, we are seeing opportunities ahead though for us to partner with our customers, especially as rate increases begin to taper. Turning to operating expenses. These have increased by 11% year over year and that's been primarily due to the full year compensation impact of new hires that were gradually brought on board throughout 2022 and the initial expenditure in the Q1 that's been associated With a multiyear technology investment in our treasury and cash management systems to enhance our trading, hedging and reporting platforms. This modernization effort is expected to position us to be defensive against cyber and fraud threats in the future and also allow us to our portfolio and diversify our product offerings. Speaker 300:14:51We expect our run rate operating expenses to increase at a pace As of March 31, 2023, our operating efficiency was 28% and below our strategic plan target of 30% And that's primarily because revenue growth increased at a significantly higher rate than expense growth. We will, however, continue Closely monitor our efficiency ratio. As we invest in loan infrastructure and funding platforms and innovate our loan processes to accelerate growth, We do expect to see some temporary increases that could go above the 30% level. Our credit profile is holding strong in aggregate despite the economic headwinds, While 90 day delinquencies increased $27,000,000 sequentially to $71,000,000 or 27 basis points of our entire portfolio, It was primarily due to $16,000,000 in farm and planting loans that are attributable to a single borrower that became delinquent in Q1 of 2020 This increase is in line with the seasonal rise consistently observed during the Q1 and related to the January 1 payment date on most of our portfolio. As of March 31, 2023, the total allowance for losses was $17,900,000 reflecting An $800,000 increase from year end 2022. Speaker 300:16:24The increase was primarily attributable to a single agricultural storage and The borrower is currently undergoing bankruptcy proceedings. We expect this situation to be resolved in the next several months. Now turning to capital. Farmer Mac's $1,400,000,000 of core capital as of March 31, 2023, Exceeded our statutory requirement by $534,000,000 or 65%. Core capital increased from year end 2022, but primarily due to an increase in retained earnings. Speaker 300:17:01Our Tier Capital ratio improved to 15.7 percent as of March 31, 2023 from 14.9% as of year end 2022, largely as noted due to strong earnings results as well as a reduction in risk based capital consumption that occurred from our 3rd securitization transaction. Maintaining credit standards that reflect our risk profile coupled with strong levels of capital It's extremely fundamental to our long term strategy. During our last earnings call in February, we discussed the successful execution of our 3rd $300,000,000 securitization transaction in evolving and difficult market conditions. This has created a well received new investment But I'd also like to highlight that this is just another example of our diversified sources of funding. In conclusion, our entire team delivered exceptional quarterly results, surpassing the key metrics that we highlight on each call. Speaker 300:18:06Notably, we delivered an 18% return on equity and an efficiency ratio of 28%. We believe that our balance sheet is well positioned for uncertainty and we're more optimistic than ever to deliver on our long term strategic plan objectives. And with that Brad, let me turn it back to you. Speaker 200:18:25Thanks, Aparna. We experienced a strong start to 2023 despite the backdrop of economic uncertainty and market volatility. I am extremely proud of our team and the excellent progress that we are making on our multiyear strategic initiatives. We believe we are well positioned even though there is uncertainty in the economy. And now, operator, I'd like to see if we have any questions From anyone on the line with us today. Operator00:19:05We will now begin the question and answer session. Our first question comes from Bill Ryan from Seaport Research Partners. Please go ahead. Speaker 400:19:35Good afternoon and thanks for taking my questions. First one for Brad. You mentioned the regional banking crisis a few times in your early commentary. And I was wondering if you're seeing any additional inquiries coming in about Potentially additional volume coming your way as banks might be looking to, let's just Speaker 200:20:05Yes, Bill, we are paying a lot of attention to that. And there are 2 And I emphasize potential ways that that can occur. There may be banks that hold portfolio of loans that otherwise they might have sold to us in the past that Now they're ready to sell. Just for a very simple example, Silicon Valley Bank had approximately 700 and some odd 1,000,000 Dollars, 1st mortgage loans on Vineyards in California. So that's slowly working its way through receivership, but we'll keep an eye on that and other similar situations, as well as those banks that may hold portfolios like that, that are feeling under capital pressure today. Speaker 200:20:46The second way that it can arise is banks that in the past may have had a bias towards doing 3 or 5 or 7 year first mortgage loan and ARM and holding on a balance sheet. And today, A couple of things are working against them. 1, they may be having liquidity and capital constraints that they weren't experiencing 6 to 12 months ago. And the other is the shape of the yield curve, It really favors longer term fixed rate debt where we have an inherent advantage in funding, especially in comparison to Bank that is dependent on deposits. So, it hasn't those two opportunities haven't been reflected in the numbers yet. Speaker 200:21:31And it's very difficult to project to what extent they may be reflected in future numbers, but we're keeping a close eye on it. And Just common sense tells us that yes, there should be some additional opportunities coming because of that. Now there's still a headwind out there, particularly for 1st mortgage loans for the farm and ranch program of Very few refinancings and higher overall, interest rates having a kind of depressing or stifling effect No origination, but these two factors that I just mentioned provide a bit of a tailwind for us and should provide some additional opportunity through the remainder of the year. Speaker 400:22:16Okay. And one follow-up Operator00:22:19on the Speaker 400:22:20finance business. You mentioned it last quarter that it was kind of a little bit logjam given the disruption in the capital markets. You kind of echoed that comment Again, this quarter, what's it going to take to kind of free up the volume that's kind of like sitting there ready to go? Speaker 200:22:37Well, right now, a higher portion of the 1st mortgage loan farm and ranch opportunities are going to be associated with The transfer of real estate. And you can read some of our publications, the FEED and others and our Chief Economist, Jackson, Takish, commenting on land values, which have held up remarkably well. So you apply higher interest rates To high already high land values and you have a higher cost to carry a more challenging kind of economic value proposition. So We're not seeing a big increase in the transfer of land that is motivating new financing opportunities. But I would draw your attention, Bill, back to our comments and our presentation of our numbers across All of our segments and while farm and ranch as we've noted now both in our formal comments is And I've also noted them just now. Speaker 200:23:35While it's down for farm and ranch, our volumes for some of our rural infrastructure and specifically Telecom, fuel utility and Renewable Energy Project Finance are up. They're up substantially. And those are accretive. They're higher, NES segments of business For us, they are contributing to those higher NES numbers. They're part of that story. Speaker 200:24:05And, the volumes there are not just holding up, they are growing for us in this environment. So, Yes. We can talk about a logjam, as you described it in farm and ranch, but in other areas of our business, We're not experiencing that. In fact, we're experiencing more opportunities. As I mentioned, we're allocating more resources to renewable energy project finance right now. Speaker 200:24:30And that increasing diversification of our portfolio is giving us greater strength and ability to deliver The steady returns you've seen from us year over year to keep delivering those steady returns throughout 2023. Speaker 400:24:49Okay. Thanks for taking Operator00:24:50the question. Our next question comes from Gary Gordon, Private Investor. Please go ahead. Speaker 500:24:59Okay. Thank you. Questions on the remarkable interest spread. First, the benefit was all attributed to the over the a year ago is attributed to the financing group treasury. I assume the way you calculate it is some calculation of your cost of funds versus some sort of average. Speaker 500:25:25So, I mean, why isn't the cost of funds attributed to an operating unit rather than the finance group? Speaker 200:25:33Yes. I'll let a partner get to that, Gary. It's a very interesting question. But I'd first kind of draw your attention to a part Of that positive change being attributable to these accretive lines of business where we're seeing a little bit stronger growth right now. As you point out, the majority of it is attributable to how we run our book and our treasury operations. Speaker 200:25:59And I'll let Aparna take through some of that detail, both the simple math denominator, numerator question that you're getting at, but then maybe a bit more detail on how other factors And how we run our book are contributing to that. Speaker 300:26:14Sure. Thanks for that question, Gary. So about a year ago, We actually segregated our portfolio into segments. And with that, we are now able to get a more granular view Of just how we can actually allocate NES between the operating units that you mentioned, agricultural finance and rural infrastructure finance And then treasury as it's split out between the actual funding desk and then our investment portfolio. So when we actually spread the interest rate Benefits across the operating units, what we do is we assume that with all other things being equal, The way in which we would fund the balance sheet if we did not have a treasury desk would be through match funding Every single loan relative to the benchmark interest rate based on the tenor of that loan. Speaker 300:27:13In reality, what we'll do is we don't assume any interest rate risk, but we will actually hedge or synthetically convert a fixed or floating rate Asset into an appropriate liability and actually match the duration and convexity of the asset and liability. So this gets to be a little bit technical, but essentially the way to think about this is, the funds transfer pricing mechanism that we use Provides a baseline of what funding costs would be out in the marketplace in the absence of the treasury desk. So to the extent that the assets are being generated at a spread above this market rate, they get credit for it. To the extent that the Treasury Funding Desk is able to issue debt below this Market rate that we calculate, then that credit is ascribed to the treasury unit. So essentially what has happened over the past year Has been that we've been able to opportunistically fund at certain points on the yield curve and issue debt that's been below the market rate. Speaker 300:28:21So that's one factor. The other factor is just the persistent benefit that we've received when we extended our debt as well as raised additional capital through preferred issuances that related to an excess in capital that gets reinvested in the investment That reduces our cost of borrowing. So those are the 2 big drivers, but the former explanation really gets at, I would say, in all environments, How we really ascribe that NES and apportion it across our lines of business that's agricultural finance and rural infrastructure finance and then the treasury. Speaker 500:28:58Okay. Thanks. Follow-up on that. It sounded like I heard that Some of these benefits due to the rise in rates and some of it may be lost in a fall in rates, which Suggest some asset sensitivity to the book. Did I hear that correctly or no? Speaker 300:29:20No, there's no real asset sensitivity. So I think the key thing here is that we actually hedge our interest rate risk Such that we have no or minimal exposure to any changes in the repricing or changes in the benchmark rate. The only risk that we might be exposed to when we change the tenure of our liability stack relative to the asset stack Is when there is actual changes in credit spreads. So there's no real change, or risk that we experience In different rates and volumes because of the way in which we hedge our book. So the best way to think about this is The duration of our assets and liabilities are perfectly matched. Speaker 300:30:08And we're able to do this because we can actually opportunistically hedge Our liabilities against our assets in response to changing interest rate environments. So very different phenomenon than What other institutions might have that allow us to minimize our risk, but also be fairly opportunistic on where we fall on the curve? Speaker 400:30:30Okay. I Speaker 500:30:31don't want to beat us to death, but one follow on. So is then the real benefit that your cost of funds that you've generated Has improved versus credit spreads out in the marketplace? Speaker 300:30:45Yes, that is definitely the case. And it has to do with the fact that We are seeing really strong flight to quality in general for GSEs. And so we compare pretty well to other GSEs, so that's one point. The second one is, just the fact that We've been conducting consistent investor outreach and there's strong demand specifically for our debt issuances. And also given our size, We're able to issue in a way that really matches our investors' preferences. Speaker 300:31:19We don't do bulk issuances. We can do some really customized issuance. And that's it's a small benefit, but certainly all of it adds up and it helps us really issue at rates that are below market, especially Speaker 200:31:34in the Operator00:31:38Question comes from Brendan McCarthy from Sidoti. Please go ahead. Speaker 600:31:44Yes. Thank you for taking my question. I was wondering if you could provide some additional color on the telecommunications sector. I know volume had a huge jump this quarter. What really drove that The jump in volume there. Speaker 200:31:59Probably 2 factors, Brandon and by the way, thank you very much for joining us today. Probably two factors. One is that, we have Zach Carpenter and our business development team have been Much more active. That team has really been built out significantly in the last couple of years. And that includes the build out of the rural infrastructure team, Which is now what I would describe as in place and mature. Speaker 200:32:30And so they've been reaching out to Institutions, keep in mind, we're a secondary market, so we're always originating with or from other financial institutions. They've been reaching out much more consistently and aggressively. Incredibly, I would also add, to originate that business. So for example, there's 1 institution, a Farm Credit Institution that With which we've been doing a significant amount of telecom over the last year. So that's been a positive. Speaker 200:33:05The other, I think factor is that, for those telecommunications firms that are Predominantly focused on rural America, which of course is where our interest is. There is significant capital investment going on. There is investment In broadband, there's investment in other forms of communication. And That's all a part of improving rural infrastructure, some of it stimulated by government programs, some of it by new technologies, but there's real capital investment going on out there and that leads to opportunity for us. Speaker 600:33:49Great. Thank you. And then one follow-up with that. Are you able to disclose the spread figure that telecom typically generates on average? Speaker 200:34:01Yes. I think we do break out our business segments by average Speaker 300:34:06We do, but it's really meshed into the rural utilities segment, but I'll just give you perhaps Some averages here. But if you just look at where we were just about a year ago, our Rural Utilities segment you'll see as a result of telecom has on average gone up about 13 basis points, right? So when you think about that, those spreads tend to be Our Rural Utility segment on average is about 36 basis points today. It was in the 20s about a year ago. And with this increase in telecom, Which has been a small amount. Speaker 300:34:44Telecom tends to be in the mid-100s, so about 150 basis points. So when you think about a change in business composition towards telecom, that Rural Infrastructure segment is where you can really track it. And you can see a fairly notable double digit increase in basis points spread on average across the portfolio. Speaker 200:35:04Yes. Aparna mentioned 150 On the telecom, I've seen a few of the telecom deals going through here that have been even materially higher than that Brendan. We also have If we look at Project Finance, we mentioned that as an area where while the numbers aren't large, the percentage increases are. And there just as an example, the NES on those deals will be 150 basis points to 2.50 basis points compared to 100 basis points to 115 basis points, which is what we've been talking about as our average right now. So when we Talk about telecom or we talk about project finance for renewable energy projects being highly accretive, we're talking about factors of 1.5x to 2.5x. Speaker 600:35:53Great. Thank you. That's helpful. Lastly, as a quick follow-up, given the diversification of the loan book in Rural Utilities and Renewable, Do you still feel that an NES target range of 90 to 100 basis points is a prudent measure going forward? Speaker 200:36:13Thank you for asking that. We would have been disappointed and not because we talked about that a lot. The star is really aligned from a funding standpoint this quarter. I think that Going forward, we will look for accelerating growth in our telecom And Renewable Energy Project Finance Portfolios, so yes, accretion there. On the other hand, we will not back away from Doing as much farm and ranch business at our historic farm and ranch spreads as we possibly can. Speaker 200:36:53That's so absolutely core to our mission. So I think you could see some continuing support For this NES, going into the next quarter or 2 from accretive assets as well as treasury operations. And then maybe see a little bit of dampening effect beyond that as we look to Comparative pickup in farm and ranch, and some of our lower yielding rural utility business. How that exactly shakes out? I don't know. Speaker 200:37:28I think 90 bps to 100 bps, NES It's looking pretty conservative to us today based on where we are. And I think we've always Try to provide conservative indications of where that NES is. I remember a time when we were talking about 85 to 95. But What you've seen is opportunistic treasury. You've seen the benefits of diversified portfolio. Speaker 200:37:53You've seen the benefits of More opportunistic pricing. There was a time when Farmer Mac not too long ago when Farmer Mac was kind of at a price, what's the minimum we need to earn. And I think now we're much more attuned to what's available in the marketplace and that also is contributing to some higher returns. So I think 90 to 100 feels very, very conservative. And for the remainder of this year, seeing that 110 range, maybe even a bit higher, It's not out of the question at all. Speaker 600:38:27Got it. Thank you. Operator00:38:28Got it. Thank you. This concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Brad Nordholm for any closing remarks. Speaker 200:38:38Yes. Well, again, I'd just like to thank everyone for joining us today. I hope you can hear our voices just how proud we are of these results. It feels like it's a combination not of just everything working in 1 quarter, but To a greater and greater extent, every quarter we go on, our overall business plan, I think our very strong management team, our enthusiastic and very, very capable employees, all executing On our strategic plan here at Farmer Mac and just showing better and better results from it. One of our directors the other day described this as Not just a continuation, but an upward shift in our curve. Speaker 200:39:25And I think that is an apt description. And Again, I hope you hear our pride in what we're doing. So thank you very much for your interest. Don't hesitate to follow-up with any follow on questions. We're Very happy to talk more about this. Speaker 200:39:41And with that operator and our gratitude, we can conclude this call. Operator00:39:48Conference has now concluded. Thank you forRead moreRemove AdsPowered by Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallFederal Agricultural Mortgage Q1 202300:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2xRemove Ads Earnings DocumentsSlide DeckPress Release(8-K)Quarterly report(10-Q) Federal Agricultural Mortgage Earnings HeadlinesWidows And Orphans Income Investments Yielding 6%April 5, 2025 | seekingalpha.comFederal Agricultural Mortgage's Preferred Stock, Series E Shares Cross 6.5% Yield MarkApril 3, 2025 | nasdaq.comNow I look stupid. Real stupid... I thought what happened 25 years ago was a once- in-a-lifetime event… but how wrong I was. Because here we are, a quarter of a century later, almost to the exact day, and it’s happening again. April 17, 2025 | Porter & Company (Ad)Federal Agricultural Mortgage price target raised to $230 from $205 at Keefe BruyetteFebruary 24, 2025 | markets.businessinsider.comIs Now The Time To Put Federal Agricultural Mortgage (NYSE:AGM) On Your Watchlist?February 22, 2025 | finance.yahoo.comFederal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (NYSE:AGM) Q4 2024 Earnings Call TranscriptFebruary 22, 2025 | insidermonkey.comSee More Federal Agricultural Mortgage Headlines Get Earnings Announcements in your inboxWant to stay updated on the latest earnings announcements and upcoming reports for companies like Federal Agricultural Mortgage? Sign up for Earnings360's daily newsletter to receive timely earnings updates on Federal Agricultural Mortgage and other key companies, straight to your email. Email Address About Federal Agricultural MortgageFederal Agricultural Mortgage (NYSE:AGM) provides a secondary market for various loans made to borrowers in the United States. It operates through four segments: Corporate AgFinance, Farm & Ranch, Rural Utilities, and Renewable Energy. The company's Agricultural Finance line of business engages in purchasing and retaining eligible loans and securities; guaranteeing the payment of principal and interest on securities that represent interests in or obligations secured by pools of eligible loans; servicing eligible loans; and issuing LTSPCs for eligible loans. Its Rural Infrastructure Finance line of business is involved in the purchase of rural utilities loans and renewable energy loans and guarantees of securities backed by loans, as well as LTSPCs for pools of eligible rural utilities loans; by loans for electric or telecommunications facilities by lenders organized as cooperatives to borrowers; and other financial institutions that are secured by pools of eligible loans. Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Washington, the District of Columbia.View Federal Agricultural Mortgage ProfileRead more More Earnings Resources from MarketBeat Earnings Tools Today's Earnings Tomorrow's Earnings Next Week's Earnings Upcoming Earnings Calls Earnings Newsletter Earnings Call Transcripts Earnings Beats & Misses Corporate Guidance Earnings Screener Earnings By Country U.S. Earnings Reports Canadian Earnings Reports U.K. Earnings Reports Latest Articles 3 Reasons to Like the Look of Amazon Ahead of EarningsTesla Stock Eyes Breakout With Earnings on DeckJohnson & Johnson Earnings Were More Good Than Bad—Time to Buy? 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There are 7 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Afternoon, and welcome to the Farmer Mac First Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. All participants will be in listen only mode. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask Please note this event is being recorded. I'd now like to turn the conference over to Joppa Nazareth, Senior Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead. Speaker 100:00:33Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us for our Q1 2023 earnings conference call. I'm Zolpi Nasrich, Senior Director of Investor Relations and Finance Strategy here at Farmer Mac. As we begin, please note that the information provided during this call May contain forward looking statements about the company's business, strategies and prospects, which are based on management's current expectations and assumptions. These statements are not a guarantee of future performance and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause our SEC filings for a full discussion of the company's risk factors. On today's call, we will also be discussing certain non GAAP financial measures. Speaker 100:01:21Disclosures and reconciliations of these non GAAP measures can be found in the most recent Form 10 Q and earnings press release posted on Marmaxx website, farmermax.com, under the Financial Information portion of the Investors section. Joining us from management this afternoon are our President and Chief Executive Officer, Brad Nordholm, who will discuss Q1 business and financial highlights and strategic And Chief Financial Officer, Aparna Ramesh, who will provide greater detail on our financial performance. Select members Our management team will also be joining us for the question and answer period. At this time, I'll turn the call over to President and CEO, Brad Nordholm. Brad? Speaker 200:02:02Thanks, Jalpa, and good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for joining us today. I'm very pleased to announce we delivered a great quarter With new all time records for revenue, earnings and net effective spread and All time records in the growth rates of these three metrics. Our results not only highlight the resiliency of our business model, Our disciplined approach to asset liability management and our successful efforts over the last few years to grow and diversify our revenue streams, but also the alignment of our team with our long term strategic objectives and passion for fulfillment of our mission throughout changing market cycles. For some time, Aparna and I have talked with you about our disciplined approach to asset liability management. Speaker 200:02:57We've emphasized that our ability to issue long dated fixed rate debt in all rate environments and economic cycles It's a core competitive advantage that when combined with our approach to asset liability management helps to produce consistent spreads and provides remarkable forward visibility to future earnings. The recent volatility in the capital markets and failures Of depository institutions provide a stark contrast between Farmer Mac and banks. We're not a bank and we don't rely upon deposits as a source of funding. The terms governing our debt securities are contractual in nature and we, Not depositors hold the optionality of when and how to call our debt. We will continue to talk about these differences and why Farmer Mac's business model is resilient and has the ability to deliver such consistent results. Speaker 200:04:00In the Q1 of 2023, we booked core earnings of $38,900,000 50% increase over the same period 1 year ago. We provided a gross $1,700,000,000 in liquidity and lending Capacity to lenders serving rural America, resulting in total outstanding business volume growth of over 500,000,000 from year end to $26,500,000,000 as of March 31, 2023, which annualized is about a 7.5% growth rate. The volume growth this quarter was primarily attributable to the efforts we've made over the last few years to diversify our business model Across numerous key markets, we achieved $608,000,000 of net new business in rural infrastructure. We acquired nearly $100,000,000 in telecommunication loans in the Q1 of 2023 as there is Growing investment in fiber and broadband in rural America. These telco assets are highly accretive In terms of NES and are another reflection of our attempts to diversify our asset portfolio. Speaker 200:05:12We remain committed to increased investment in the telecommunication and broadband sectors, which are highly mission centric, And we look forward to providing additional updates on this new avenue of growth for Farmer Mac. Our renewable energy portfolio also Experienced a strong start to the year with approximately $80,000,000 in net growth from several counterparties. Our participation in broadly syndicated renewable energy transactions has increased the number of potential counterparties to source transactions from in future years. The pipeline remains strong in near future as we continue to focus on upsizing existing deals and bringing on new renewable energy opportunities with additional resources committed to this area. Outstanding volume in the agricultural finance line of business was relatively flat from year end, largely due to continued economic uncertainty and broader market volatility. Speaker 200:06:16We do see opportunities to help our customers with their Volume in the Farm and Ranch segment declined sequentially due to two reasons. The first is the seasonally large number of Schedule payments due to the majority of the Farm and Ranch loan customers, which are annual or semi annual With payments falling on January 1st the year. The second is that many of those borrowers during that period of time are focused on the renewal of existing lines of credit ahead of the spring planting season. Outstanding volume in our corporate ag finance portfolio was relatively Flat from year end as persistent volatility and uncertainty in the market slowed down deal opportunities in the Q1 with many transactions on pause Waiting for signs of stabilization in the macroeconomic outlook. When we spoke to current and prospective During the recent Global Ag Investing Conference in New York, we heard a recurring theme that there was a large balance Institutional money ready to be put to work in the cultural space. Speaker 200:07:33In recent weeks, we have also seen more opportunities They continue to be accretive from a net effect of spread standpoint. We remain focused on this sector. It's Key component of our diversification strategy, central to our mission and impactful of earnings and continued growth. We told you about our successful execution of our 3rd securitization in February of this year on our call, And we continue to receive excellent market feedback as well as demand for agricultural backed securitization products. This program aligns very well with our core mission to lower our costs for our N Bowers and improve credit availability in rural America. Speaker 200:08:20We remain committed to being a regular issue in the securitization market. It's now become routine for us with a set of securitization products that align with borrower and investor interests. Looking ahead, our underlying business model, Our strong capital position and our uninterrupted access to debt capital markets throughout the various market disruptions Uniquely possessions us to partner with our customers to help them manage their business and the risks they face around future capital requirements And liquidity. The foundation of our strategy is our consistent financial and operational execution, Coupled with proactive management of our balance sheet and funding sources, which has and we expect will position us well in changing credit environments and create more opportunities to enhance shareholder value and fulfill our mission. Now I'll turn the call over to Aparna Ramesh, our Chief Financial Officer, to discuss the results in more detail. Speaker 200:09:26Aparna? Speaker 300:09:28Thank you, Brad, and good afternoon, everyone. Our record Q1 2023 results highlight our balanced, well measured approach, Continuing strong credit quality and resiliency across market cycles. We achieved $1,700,000,000 of new business volume this quarter. And some of the key components include $500,000,000 in rural infrastructure at Vantage Funds, $145,000,000 in gross corporate agricultural finance loan purchases, which is about 135% higher than last year at this time and $73,000,000 in gross renewable energy loan purchases. After repayments, we grew About $600,000,000 this quarter in our outstanding business volume and this speaks to the benefit of our diversified portfolio. Speaker 300:10:20And notably, there's been strong execution in our rural infrastructure line of business. Core earnings were $38,900,000 $3.56 per share in the Q1 of 2023. And this reflects, as Brad noted, a 50% year over year growth That's driven by record net effective spread of $77,200,000 in the Q1 of 2023 compared to $57,800,000 in the same period last year. As Brad highlighted, Despite the earnings pressure that many financial institutions are currently facing, our net effective spread this quarter increased appreciably and was at 115 basis points. This was primarily driven by significant reduction in our cost of borrowing And strong pricing in the rural infrastructure sector. Speaker 300:11:14Despite short term interest rates peaking, our cost of funds have trended Systematically downward. This is because of our disciplined asset liability management practices where we hedged our risk effectively, while changing our funding mix to take advantage of opportunities as the yield curve changed. Another significant driver of the low cost of funds It's from the low cost debt and capital that we raised opportunistically when rates were at historical lows in 2020 2021. These decisions have continued to pay off as we've reduced the need for us to raise more expensive term and callable debt in a rising rate environment. This benefit is expected to continue to create a downward pressure on our non GAAP funding costs as the short end of the curve continues to increase with said actions And the reinvesting of excess capital generates additional return with an upward repricing of our short term investment portfolio. Speaker 300:12:15While the rise in short term interest rates has provided an asymmetric benefit to earnings, we project limited downside to earnings when rates decline. The reason for this is that we expect to retain some of this benefit over the medium term if rates were to decline as we have proactively extending maturities in our investment portfolio. Again, these are all practices and are an example that are consistent with our disciplined approach that's designed to help minimize earnings volatility. Brad highlighted important differences between our business model and those of traditional depository institutions. In the wake of the banking crisis, we voluntarily conducted a review of our own asset liability management practices. Speaker 300:12:59The results of this review highlighted that our disciplined hedging strategy, where we match the duration and convexity of our assets and liabilities And all rate environments have significantly contained earnings volatility. Our liquidity and capital positions are well in excess of all regulatory ratios, and our projections show minimal change in our profitability and market value, regardless of the direction and size of any rate shock that we might apply to stress our balance sheet. We highlighted improvement in pricing in the Rural Utilities segment, which has also been a contributor to the higher NES in the Q1 of 2023. This was driven by higher spread volumes related to the telecommunications sector. And this sector has nearly doubled year over year to $356,000,000 as of March 31, 2023. Speaker 300:13:53This increase was slightly offset by flat to lower pricing In the agricultural finance line of business that stem from increased competition for high quality credits and limited loan origination in this sector. However, we are seeing opportunities ahead though for us to partner with our customers, especially as rate increases begin to taper. Turning to operating expenses. These have increased by 11% year over year and that's been primarily due to the full year compensation impact of new hires that were gradually brought on board throughout 2022 and the initial expenditure in the Q1 that's been associated With a multiyear technology investment in our treasury and cash management systems to enhance our trading, hedging and reporting platforms. This modernization effort is expected to position us to be defensive against cyber and fraud threats in the future and also allow us to our portfolio and diversify our product offerings. Speaker 300:14:51We expect our run rate operating expenses to increase at a pace As of March 31, 2023, our operating efficiency was 28% and below our strategic plan target of 30% And that's primarily because revenue growth increased at a significantly higher rate than expense growth. We will, however, continue Closely monitor our efficiency ratio. As we invest in loan infrastructure and funding platforms and innovate our loan processes to accelerate growth, We do expect to see some temporary increases that could go above the 30% level. Our credit profile is holding strong in aggregate despite the economic headwinds, While 90 day delinquencies increased $27,000,000 sequentially to $71,000,000 or 27 basis points of our entire portfolio, It was primarily due to $16,000,000 in farm and planting loans that are attributable to a single borrower that became delinquent in Q1 of 2020 This increase is in line with the seasonal rise consistently observed during the Q1 and related to the January 1 payment date on most of our portfolio. As of March 31, 2023, the total allowance for losses was $17,900,000 reflecting An $800,000 increase from year end 2022. Speaker 300:16:24The increase was primarily attributable to a single agricultural storage and The borrower is currently undergoing bankruptcy proceedings. We expect this situation to be resolved in the next several months. Now turning to capital. Farmer Mac's $1,400,000,000 of core capital as of March 31, 2023, Exceeded our statutory requirement by $534,000,000 or 65%. Core capital increased from year end 2022, but primarily due to an increase in retained earnings. Speaker 300:17:01Our Tier Capital ratio improved to 15.7 percent as of March 31, 2023 from 14.9% as of year end 2022, largely as noted due to strong earnings results as well as a reduction in risk based capital consumption that occurred from our 3rd securitization transaction. Maintaining credit standards that reflect our risk profile coupled with strong levels of capital It's extremely fundamental to our long term strategy. During our last earnings call in February, we discussed the successful execution of our 3rd $300,000,000 securitization transaction in evolving and difficult market conditions. This has created a well received new investment But I'd also like to highlight that this is just another example of our diversified sources of funding. In conclusion, our entire team delivered exceptional quarterly results, surpassing the key metrics that we highlight on each call. Speaker 300:18:06Notably, we delivered an 18% return on equity and an efficiency ratio of 28%. We believe that our balance sheet is well positioned for uncertainty and we're more optimistic than ever to deliver on our long term strategic plan objectives. And with that Brad, let me turn it back to you. Speaker 200:18:25Thanks, Aparna. We experienced a strong start to 2023 despite the backdrop of economic uncertainty and market volatility. I am extremely proud of our team and the excellent progress that we are making on our multiyear strategic initiatives. We believe we are well positioned even though there is uncertainty in the economy. And now, operator, I'd like to see if we have any questions From anyone on the line with us today. Operator00:19:05We will now begin the question and answer session. Our first question comes from Bill Ryan from Seaport Research Partners. Please go ahead. Speaker 400:19:35Good afternoon and thanks for taking my questions. First one for Brad. You mentioned the regional banking crisis a few times in your early commentary. And I was wondering if you're seeing any additional inquiries coming in about Potentially additional volume coming your way as banks might be looking to, let's just Speaker 200:20:05Yes, Bill, we are paying a lot of attention to that. And there are 2 And I emphasize potential ways that that can occur. There may be banks that hold portfolio of loans that otherwise they might have sold to us in the past that Now they're ready to sell. Just for a very simple example, Silicon Valley Bank had approximately 700 and some odd 1,000,000 Dollars, 1st mortgage loans on Vineyards in California. So that's slowly working its way through receivership, but we'll keep an eye on that and other similar situations, as well as those banks that may hold portfolios like that, that are feeling under capital pressure today. Speaker 200:20:46The second way that it can arise is banks that in the past may have had a bias towards doing 3 or 5 or 7 year first mortgage loan and ARM and holding on a balance sheet. And today, A couple of things are working against them. 1, they may be having liquidity and capital constraints that they weren't experiencing 6 to 12 months ago. And the other is the shape of the yield curve, It really favors longer term fixed rate debt where we have an inherent advantage in funding, especially in comparison to Bank that is dependent on deposits. So, it hasn't those two opportunities haven't been reflected in the numbers yet. Speaker 200:21:31And it's very difficult to project to what extent they may be reflected in future numbers, but we're keeping a close eye on it. And Just common sense tells us that yes, there should be some additional opportunities coming because of that. Now there's still a headwind out there, particularly for 1st mortgage loans for the farm and ranch program of Very few refinancings and higher overall, interest rates having a kind of depressing or stifling effect No origination, but these two factors that I just mentioned provide a bit of a tailwind for us and should provide some additional opportunity through the remainder of the year. Speaker 400:22:16Okay. And one follow-up Operator00:22:19on the Speaker 400:22:20finance business. You mentioned it last quarter that it was kind of a little bit logjam given the disruption in the capital markets. You kind of echoed that comment Again, this quarter, what's it going to take to kind of free up the volume that's kind of like sitting there ready to go? Speaker 200:22:37Well, right now, a higher portion of the 1st mortgage loan farm and ranch opportunities are going to be associated with The transfer of real estate. And you can read some of our publications, the FEED and others and our Chief Economist, Jackson, Takish, commenting on land values, which have held up remarkably well. So you apply higher interest rates To high already high land values and you have a higher cost to carry a more challenging kind of economic value proposition. So We're not seeing a big increase in the transfer of land that is motivating new financing opportunities. But I would draw your attention, Bill, back to our comments and our presentation of our numbers across All of our segments and while farm and ranch as we've noted now both in our formal comments is And I've also noted them just now. Speaker 200:23:35While it's down for farm and ranch, our volumes for some of our rural infrastructure and specifically Telecom, fuel utility and Renewable Energy Project Finance are up. They're up substantially. And those are accretive. They're higher, NES segments of business For us, they are contributing to those higher NES numbers. They're part of that story. Speaker 200:24:05And, the volumes there are not just holding up, they are growing for us in this environment. So, Yes. We can talk about a logjam, as you described it in farm and ranch, but in other areas of our business, We're not experiencing that. In fact, we're experiencing more opportunities. As I mentioned, we're allocating more resources to renewable energy project finance right now. Speaker 200:24:30And that increasing diversification of our portfolio is giving us greater strength and ability to deliver The steady returns you've seen from us year over year to keep delivering those steady returns throughout 2023. Speaker 400:24:49Okay. Thanks for taking Operator00:24:50the question. Our next question comes from Gary Gordon, Private Investor. Please go ahead. Speaker 500:24:59Okay. Thank you. Questions on the remarkable interest spread. First, the benefit was all attributed to the over the a year ago is attributed to the financing group treasury. I assume the way you calculate it is some calculation of your cost of funds versus some sort of average. Speaker 500:25:25So, I mean, why isn't the cost of funds attributed to an operating unit rather than the finance group? Speaker 200:25:33Yes. I'll let a partner get to that, Gary. It's a very interesting question. But I'd first kind of draw your attention to a part Of that positive change being attributable to these accretive lines of business where we're seeing a little bit stronger growth right now. As you point out, the majority of it is attributable to how we run our book and our treasury operations. Speaker 200:25:59And I'll let Aparna take through some of that detail, both the simple math denominator, numerator question that you're getting at, but then maybe a bit more detail on how other factors And how we run our book are contributing to that. Speaker 300:26:14Sure. Thanks for that question, Gary. So about a year ago, We actually segregated our portfolio into segments. And with that, we are now able to get a more granular view Of just how we can actually allocate NES between the operating units that you mentioned, agricultural finance and rural infrastructure finance And then treasury as it's split out between the actual funding desk and then our investment portfolio. So when we actually spread the interest rate Benefits across the operating units, what we do is we assume that with all other things being equal, The way in which we would fund the balance sheet if we did not have a treasury desk would be through match funding Every single loan relative to the benchmark interest rate based on the tenor of that loan. Speaker 300:27:13In reality, what we'll do is we don't assume any interest rate risk, but we will actually hedge or synthetically convert a fixed or floating rate Asset into an appropriate liability and actually match the duration and convexity of the asset and liability. So this gets to be a little bit technical, but essentially the way to think about this is, the funds transfer pricing mechanism that we use Provides a baseline of what funding costs would be out in the marketplace in the absence of the treasury desk. So to the extent that the assets are being generated at a spread above this market rate, they get credit for it. To the extent that the Treasury Funding Desk is able to issue debt below this Market rate that we calculate, then that credit is ascribed to the treasury unit. So essentially what has happened over the past year Has been that we've been able to opportunistically fund at certain points on the yield curve and issue debt that's been below the market rate. Speaker 300:28:21So that's one factor. The other factor is just the persistent benefit that we've received when we extended our debt as well as raised additional capital through preferred issuances that related to an excess in capital that gets reinvested in the investment That reduces our cost of borrowing. So those are the 2 big drivers, but the former explanation really gets at, I would say, in all environments, How we really ascribe that NES and apportion it across our lines of business that's agricultural finance and rural infrastructure finance and then the treasury. Speaker 500:28:58Okay. Thanks. Follow-up on that. It sounded like I heard that Some of these benefits due to the rise in rates and some of it may be lost in a fall in rates, which Suggest some asset sensitivity to the book. Did I hear that correctly or no? Speaker 300:29:20No, there's no real asset sensitivity. So I think the key thing here is that we actually hedge our interest rate risk Such that we have no or minimal exposure to any changes in the repricing or changes in the benchmark rate. The only risk that we might be exposed to when we change the tenure of our liability stack relative to the asset stack Is when there is actual changes in credit spreads. So there's no real change, or risk that we experience In different rates and volumes because of the way in which we hedge our book. So the best way to think about this is The duration of our assets and liabilities are perfectly matched. Speaker 300:30:08And we're able to do this because we can actually opportunistically hedge Our liabilities against our assets in response to changing interest rate environments. So very different phenomenon than What other institutions might have that allow us to minimize our risk, but also be fairly opportunistic on where we fall on the curve? Speaker 400:30:30Okay. I Speaker 500:30:31don't want to beat us to death, but one follow on. So is then the real benefit that your cost of funds that you've generated Has improved versus credit spreads out in the marketplace? Speaker 300:30:45Yes, that is definitely the case. And it has to do with the fact that We are seeing really strong flight to quality in general for GSEs. And so we compare pretty well to other GSEs, so that's one point. The second one is, just the fact that We've been conducting consistent investor outreach and there's strong demand specifically for our debt issuances. And also given our size, We're able to issue in a way that really matches our investors' preferences. Speaker 300:31:19We don't do bulk issuances. We can do some really customized issuance. And that's it's a small benefit, but certainly all of it adds up and it helps us really issue at rates that are below market, especially Speaker 200:31:34in the Operator00:31:38Question comes from Brendan McCarthy from Sidoti. Please go ahead. Speaker 600:31:44Yes. Thank you for taking my question. I was wondering if you could provide some additional color on the telecommunications sector. I know volume had a huge jump this quarter. What really drove that The jump in volume there. Speaker 200:31:59Probably 2 factors, Brandon and by the way, thank you very much for joining us today. Probably two factors. One is that, we have Zach Carpenter and our business development team have been Much more active. That team has really been built out significantly in the last couple of years. And that includes the build out of the rural infrastructure team, Which is now what I would describe as in place and mature. Speaker 200:32:30And so they've been reaching out to Institutions, keep in mind, we're a secondary market, so we're always originating with or from other financial institutions. They've been reaching out much more consistently and aggressively. Incredibly, I would also add, to originate that business. So for example, there's 1 institution, a Farm Credit Institution that With which we've been doing a significant amount of telecom over the last year. So that's been a positive. Speaker 200:33:05The other, I think factor is that, for those telecommunications firms that are Predominantly focused on rural America, which of course is where our interest is. There is significant capital investment going on. There is investment In broadband, there's investment in other forms of communication. And That's all a part of improving rural infrastructure, some of it stimulated by government programs, some of it by new technologies, but there's real capital investment going on out there and that leads to opportunity for us. Speaker 600:33:49Great. Thank you. And then one follow-up with that. Are you able to disclose the spread figure that telecom typically generates on average? Speaker 200:34:01Yes. I think we do break out our business segments by average Speaker 300:34:06We do, but it's really meshed into the rural utilities segment, but I'll just give you perhaps Some averages here. But if you just look at where we were just about a year ago, our Rural Utilities segment you'll see as a result of telecom has on average gone up about 13 basis points, right? So when you think about that, those spreads tend to be Our Rural Utility segment on average is about 36 basis points today. It was in the 20s about a year ago. And with this increase in telecom, Which has been a small amount. Speaker 300:34:44Telecom tends to be in the mid-100s, so about 150 basis points. So when you think about a change in business composition towards telecom, that Rural Infrastructure segment is where you can really track it. And you can see a fairly notable double digit increase in basis points spread on average across the portfolio. Speaker 200:35:04Yes. Aparna mentioned 150 On the telecom, I've seen a few of the telecom deals going through here that have been even materially higher than that Brendan. We also have If we look at Project Finance, we mentioned that as an area where while the numbers aren't large, the percentage increases are. And there just as an example, the NES on those deals will be 150 basis points to 2.50 basis points compared to 100 basis points to 115 basis points, which is what we've been talking about as our average right now. So when we Talk about telecom or we talk about project finance for renewable energy projects being highly accretive, we're talking about factors of 1.5x to 2.5x. Speaker 600:35:53Great. Thank you. That's helpful. Lastly, as a quick follow-up, given the diversification of the loan book in Rural Utilities and Renewable, Do you still feel that an NES target range of 90 to 100 basis points is a prudent measure going forward? Speaker 200:36:13Thank you for asking that. We would have been disappointed and not because we talked about that a lot. The star is really aligned from a funding standpoint this quarter. I think that Going forward, we will look for accelerating growth in our telecom And Renewable Energy Project Finance Portfolios, so yes, accretion there. On the other hand, we will not back away from Doing as much farm and ranch business at our historic farm and ranch spreads as we possibly can. Speaker 200:36:53That's so absolutely core to our mission. So I think you could see some continuing support For this NES, going into the next quarter or 2 from accretive assets as well as treasury operations. And then maybe see a little bit of dampening effect beyond that as we look to Comparative pickup in farm and ranch, and some of our lower yielding rural utility business. How that exactly shakes out? I don't know. Speaker 200:37:28I think 90 bps to 100 bps, NES It's looking pretty conservative to us today based on where we are. And I think we've always Try to provide conservative indications of where that NES is. I remember a time when we were talking about 85 to 95. But What you've seen is opportunistic treasury. You've seen the benefits of diversified portfolio. Speaker 200:37:53You've seen the benefits of More opportunistic pricing. There was a time when Farmer Mac not too long ago when Farmer Mac was kind of at a price, what's the minimum we need to earn. And I think now we're much more attuned to what's available in the marketplace and that also is contributing to some higher returns. So I think 90 to 100 feels very, very conservative. And for the remainder of this year, seeing that 110 range, maybe even a bit higher, It's not out of the question at all. Speaker 600:38:27Got it. Thank you. Operator00:38:28Got it. Thank you. This concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Brad Nordholm for any closing remarks. Speaker 200:38:38Yes. Well, again, I'd just like to thank everyone for joining us today. I hope you can hear our voices just how proud we are of these results. It feels like it's a combination not of just everything working in 1 quarter, but To a greater and greater extent, every quarter we go on, our overall business plan, I think our very strong management team, our enthusiastic and very, very capable employees, all executing On our strategic plan here at Farmer Mac and just showing better and better results from it. One of our directors the other day described this as Not just a continuation, but an upward shift in our curve. Speaker 200:39:25And I think that is an apt description. And Again, I hope you hear our pride in what we're doing. So thank you very much for your interest. Don't hesitate to follow-up with any follow on questions. We're Very happy to talk more about this. Speaker 200:39:41And with that operator and our gratitude, we can conclude this call. Operator00:39:48Conference has now concluded. Thank you forRead moreRemove AdsPowered by