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Cypress Sharpridge Investments, Inc. Announces First Quarter 2011 Financial Results

^{Published on 2011-04-20 14:11:14 - Market Wire}
 

NEW YORK--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--Cypress Sharpridge Investments, Inc. (NYSE: CYS) (aCYSa or the aCompanya) today announced financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2011.

First Quarter 2011 Highlights

• Raised approximately $275.8 million of net proceeds through a public offering of common stock that closed on February 15, 2011.
• GAAP net income of $52.1 million, or $0.74 per diluted share.
• Core Earnings of $21.6 million, or $0.30 per diluted share.
• A component of the Companya™s net income for the quarter was $22.1 million, or $0.32 per diluted share, of appreciation on forward settling purchases (also referred to as adrop incomea) that was accounted for as net gain (loss) from investments on our statement of operations and therefore excluded from our Core Earnings.
• March 31, 2011 net asset value of $11.74 per share after declaring a $0.60 dividend per share on March 9, 2011 and recognizing the accretive impact of the February public offering.
• Interest rate spread net of hedge of 1.83%.
• Weighted average amortized cost of Agency RMBS of $102.5.
• Operating expenses as a percentage of net assets of 2.11%.

Public Offering

On February 15, 2011, the Company successfully completed a public offering of 23,000,000shares of common stock, raising approximately $275.8 million of net proceeds, bringing the total number of shares of common stock outstanding to 82,559,479 at March 31, 2011. As part of the Companya™s plan to invest the net proceeds of the offering, the Company entered into several forward settling purchases. In addition to forward settling purchases made in connection with the February 15, 2011 offering, as of March 31, 2011, the Company also had forward settling purchases, which had not yet settled, in connection with the December 15, 2010 public offering and forward settling purchases made in the ordinary course of business. As of March 31, 2011, the Company had the following forward settling purchases (in thousands):

First Quarter 2011 Results

The Company had net income of $52.1 million during the first quarter of 2011, or $0.74 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $17.3 million, or $0.38 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 2010. During the first quarter of 2011, the Company had Core Earnings of $21.6 million, or $0.30 per diluted share, compared to $12.4 million, or $0.25 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 2010. Core Earnings represents a non-GAAP financial measure and is defined as net income (loss) excluding (i) net realized gain (loss) on investments and termination of swap contracts and (ii) net unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on investments and swap and cap contracts. The quarter-over-quarter increase in Core Earnings was generally the result of the increase in net interest income due to the increase in net assets. The increase in net interest margin also contributed to the increase in Core Earnings. For the first quarter of 2011, our net interest margin increased to 1.83% from 1.74% for the fourth quarter of 2010. During the first quarter of 2011, we had $4,962.7 million of average Agency RMBS compared to $2,970.2 million during the fourth quarter of 2010.

During the fourth quarter of 2010 and first quarter of 2011, the Company utilized forward settling purchases to deploy the majority of the proceeds from its December 2010 and February 2011 public offerings. The benefit of purchasing assets in forward settling transactions is that the Company can obtain an asset at a discount (also referred to as adropa) to its current market value; however, the Company does not receive any interest income on the asset until the forward transaction settles. Obtaining the asset at a discount to market value reduces the impact of prepayments and is accretive to net asset value.

Drop income is a component of our net income accounted for as net gain (loss) from investments on our statement of operations and therefore excluded from our Core Earnings. During the first quarter of 2011, the Company generated drop income of approximately $22.1 million, or $0.32 per diluted share, compared to approximately $16.9 million, or $0.36 per diluted share, during the fourth quarter of 2010. During the first quarter of 2011, the Company made forward purchases of approximately $2.6 billion of Agency RMBS with a weighted average drop of approximately $0.28 per $100.00 par value per month compared to approximately $2.7 billion of Agency RMBS with a weighted average drop of approximately $0.28 per $100.00 par value per month during the fourth quarter of 2010.

The Companya™s interest rate spread net of hedge increased to 1.83% for the first quarter of 2011 from 1.74% in the fourth quarter of 2010. This increase was primarily due to the impact of the settlement of forward settling purchases. However, the current interest rate spread remains artificially low due to the hedging of forward settling purchases. During the first quarter of 2011, the average cost basis of the Companya™s settled Agency RMBS was $5.0 billion, average unsettled Agency RMBS was $2.5 billion and average total Agency RMBS was $7.5 billion. By applying total net swap and cap interest expense of $11.9 million for the first quarter of 2011 pro rata over settled and unsettled Agency RMBS positions, swap and cap interest expense was $7.9 million relating to our settled Agency RMBS. The result is an adjusted interest rate spread net of hedge for our settled Agency RMBS positions of approximately 2.21% compared to 2.24% in the fourth quarter of 2010. We believe that this spread is generally more reflective of the economic return of our assets as well as what we expect our interest rate spread net of hedge to be once the forward purchases settle.

The Company received $2.0 million of distributions from CLOs during the first quarter of 2011, of which $1.1 million were accounted for as a reduction of their cost basis and thereby excluded from our interest income and Core Earnings. This compared to distributions of $1.7 million from CLOs during the fourth quarter of 2010, of which $0.9 million were accounted for as a reduction of their cost basis.

The Companya™s net asset value per share on March 31, 2011 was $11.74 after declaring a $0.60 dividend per share on March 9, 2011 and recognizing the accretive impact of the February 2011 public offering, compared with $11.59 at December 31, 2010. The increase was primarily the result of the accretive February 2011 public offering and the tightening of mortgage spreads. At March 31, 2011 the spread between three year interest rate swaps and the yield on a par-priced Fannie Mae Agency RMBS backed by 30 year fixed-rate mortgage loans was 2.73% compared to 2.85% at December 31, 2010.

The Companya™s operating expenses as a percentage of net assets were 2.11% for the first quarter of 2011, compared to 2.28% for the fourth quarter of 2010. This decrease was primarily the result of the impact of the increase in net assets. During the first quarter of 2011, average net assets were $838.6 million compared to $597.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2010.

(1) Our average Agency RMBS for the period was calculated by averaging the month end cost basis of our settled Agency RMBS during the period.
(2) Our average repurchase agreements for the period were calculated by averaging the month end repurchase agreement balance during the period.
(3) Our average net assets for the period were calculated by averaging the month end net assets during the period.
(4) Our average yield on Agency RMBS for the period was calculated by dividing our interest income from Agency RMBS by our average Agency RMBS.
(5) Our average cost of funds and hedge for the period was calculated by dividing our total interest expense, including our net swap and cap interest income (expense), by our average repurchase agreements.
(6) Our interest rate spread net of hedge for the period was calculated by subtracting our average cost of funds and hedge from our average yield on Agency RMBS.
(7) Our operating expense ratio is calculated by dividing operating expenses by average net assets.
(8) Our leverage ratio was calculated by dividing total liabilities by net assets.
* All percentages are annualized.

Prepayments

The portfolio recorded $185.0 million in scheduled and unscheduled principal repayments and prepayments, which equated to a constant prepayment rate (aCPRa) of approximately 14.9%, and net amortization of premium of $5.8 million for the first quarter of 2011. This compared to $162.5 million in scheduled and unscheduled principal repayments and prepayments, which equated to a CPR of approximately 21.7% and net amortization of premium of $4.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2010.

Dividend

The Company declared a common dividend of $0.60 per share with respect to the first quarter of 2011, the same as the $0.60 per share for the fourth quarter of 2010. Using the closing share price of $12.68 on March 31, 2011, the fourth quarter dividend equates to an annualized dividend yield of 18.9%.

Portfolio

At March 31, 2011, the Companya™s $8.5 billion portfolio of Agency RMBS was backed by fixed-rate mortgages and hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages (aARMsa) with 0 to 84 months to reset (aHybrid ARMsa). Additional information about our Agency RMBS portfolio at March 31, 2011 is summarized below:

____________

⁽¹⁾aMonths to Reseta is the number of months remaining before the fixed rate on a hybrid ARM becomes a variable rate. At the end of the fixed period, the variable rate will be determined by the margin and the pre-specified caps of the ARM. After the fixed period, 100% of the hybrid ARMS in the portfolio reset annually.

⁽²⁾ CPR or aConstant Prepayment Rate,a is a method of expressing the prepayment rate for a mortgage pool that assumes that a constant fraction of the remaining principal is prepaid each month or year. Specifically, the constant prepayment rate is an annualized version of the prior three month prepayment rate. Securities with no prepayment history are excluded from this calculation.

⁽³⁾ Weighted average months to reset of our Hybrid ARM portfolio.

Financing, Leverage & Liquidity

At March 31, 2011, the Company had financed its portfolio with approximately $5.4 billion of borrowings under repurchase agreements with a weighted average interest rate of 0.29% and a weighted average maturity of approximately 35.6 days. In addition, the Company had payable for securities purchased of $2.4 billion. The Companya™s leverage ratio at March 31, 2011 was 8.1 to 1. At March 31, 2011, the Companya™s liquidity position was approximately $634.4 million, consisting of unpledged Agency RMBS, U.S. Treasury securities and cash and cash equivalents. Below is a list of outstanding repurchase agreements at March 31, 2011 (dollars in thousands):

_________

(1) Equal to the fair value of pledged securities plus accrued interest income, minus the sum of repurchase agreement liabilities and accrued interest expense.

Hedging

The Company utilizes interest rate swap and cap contracts to hedge the interest rate risk associated with the financed portion of its Agency RMBS portfolio. As of March 31, 2011, the Company had entered into 14 interest rate swap contracts with an aggregate notional amount of $4.4 billion, a weighted average fixed rate of 1.46% and a weighted average expiration of 3.0 years. At March 31, 2011, the Company had entered into three interest rate cap contracts with a notional amount of $0.7 billion, a weighted average cap rate of 1.593% and a weighted average expiration of 4.3 years. These interest rate swap and cap contracts are described below (dollars in thousands):

(1) Resets quarterly to 3-Month LIBOR

(2) Interest rate swap contains a one-time option to cancel at $0.

Conference Call

The Company will host a conference call at 9:00 AM Eastern Time on Thursday, April 21, 2011, to discuss its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2011. To participate in the event by telephone, please dial 866.788.0545 at least 10 minutes prior to the start time and reference the conference passcode 59185115. International callers should dial 857.350.1683 and reference the same passcode. The conference call will also be webcast live over the Internet and can be accessed at the Companya™s Web site at [ www.cysinv.com ]. To listen to the live webcast, please visit [ www.cysinv.com ] at least 15 minutes prior to the start of the call to register, download, and install necessary audio software. A dial-in replay will be available on Thursday, April 21, 2011, at approximately 12:00 PM Eastern Time through Thursday, May 5, 2011, at approximately 11:00 AM Eastern Time. To access this replay, please dial 888.286.8010 and enter the conference ID number 14214613. International callers should dial 617.801.6888 and enter the same conference ID number. A replay of the conference call will also be archived on the Companya™s website at [ www.cysinv.com ].

About Cypress Sharpridge Investments, Inc.

Cypress Sharpridge Investments, Inc. is a specialty finance company that invests on a leveraged basis in residential mortgage pass-through certificates for which the principal and interest payments are guaranteed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or Ginnie Mae. The Company refers to these securities as Agency RMBS. Cypress Sharpridge Investments, Inc. has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust for federal income tax purposes.

Forward Looking Statements Disclaimer

This press release contains statements that are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements relate to our interest rate spread, net of hedge. Forward-looking statements are based on our beliefs, assumptions and expectations of our future performance, taking into account all information currently available to us. These beliefs, assumptions and expectations are subject to risks and uncertainties and can change as a result of many possible events or factors, not all of which are known to us, including those described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2010, which has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. If a change occurs, these forward-looking statements may vary materially from those expressed in this release. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made. Except as required by law, we are not obligated to, and do not intend to, update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Core Earnings:

Core Earnings represents a non-GAAP financial measure and is defined as net income (loss) excluding net realized gain (loss) on investments, net unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on investments, net realized gain (loss) on termination of swap contracts and unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on swap and cap contracts. In order to evaluate the effective yield of the portfolio, management uses Core Earnings to reflect the net investment income of our portfolio as adjusted to include the net swap and cap interest income (expense). Core Earnings allows management to isolate the interest income (expense) associated with our swaps and caps in order to monitor and project our borrowing costs and interest rate spread. In addition, management utilizes Core Earnings as a key metric in conjunction with other portfolio and market factors to determine the appropriate leverage and hedging ratios, as well as the overall structure of the portfolio.

The Company adopted Accounting Standards Codification (aASCa) 946, Clarification of the Scope of Audit and Accounting Guide Investment Companies (aASC 946a), prior to its deferral in February 2008, while most, if not all, other public companies that invest only in Agency RMBS have not adopted ASC 946. Under ASC 946, the Company uses financial reporting specified for investment companies, and accordingly, its investments are carried at fair value with changes in fair value included in earnings. Most other public companies that invest only in Agency RMBS include most changes in the fair value of their investments within shareholdersa™ equity, not in earnings. As a result, investors are not able to readily compare the Companya™s results of operations to those of most of its competitors. The Company believes that the presentation of its Core Earnings is useful to investors because it provides a means of comparing its Core Earnings to those of its competitors. In addition, because Core Earnings isolates the net swap and cap interest income (expense) it provides investors with an additional metric to identify trends in the Companya™s portfolio as they relate to the interest rate environment.

The primary limitation associated with Core Earnings as a measure of the Companya™s financial performance over any period is that it excludes the effects of net realized gain (loss) from investments. In addition, the Companya™s presentation of Core Earnings may not be comparable to similarly-titled measures of other companies, who may use different calculations. As a result, Core Earnings should not be considered as a substitute for the Companya™s GAAP net income (loss) as a measure of our financial performance or any measure of our liquidity under GAAP.