The newly public digital mortgage giant is relying on a diverse set of loan channels to take on competitors in an increasingly crowded field, CEO Anthony Hsieh said in an earnings call this week.

Also: New Residential, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac release Q4 earnings reports

While its net income declined annually for the second consecutive year, CEO Hugh Frater touted Fannie Mae’s resiliency in a record year for providing mortgage liquidity.

The company purchased $1.1 trillion of single-family mortgages and $83 billion of multifamily loans during 2020.

The growing popularity of the company’s websites and apps has earned the company record profits during the fourth quarter, with adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $170 million, according to a statement on Wednesday.

The agreement would generate $250 million in proceeds, which the nonbank mortgage company plans to use to pay down and refinance existing debt, while also investing in its servicing and origination businesses.

But the company sees reasons to be optimistic about the second half of the year, CEO and Chairman Michael Nierenberg said during its fourth quarter earnings call

Even as the company posted record numbers, it could have originated more loans if it had not stopped buying FHA and jumbo mortgages from brokers.

Pretax operating margins came in much narrower than what is projected for the three stand-alone underwriters.

The company also reported a large fourth-quarter loss that reflected a significant increase in its loan-loss provision.

For a surprising number of companies pursuing an IPO is a mistake, Endurance Advisory Partners CEO Stephen Curry says.

The auto finance company, which had stumbled in forays into the credit card business, is now seeing rapid growth in mortgage and unsecured consumer lending.

Despite that decline, the company notched its second-best quarterly earnings ever over that period.

The investments, part of a post-merger effort to wring out more profits, include new commercial and mortgage lending platforms.

The company’s 4Q originations were down from the same time in 2019 and the number of overall loans for 2020 marked a decline from the year before.

While some industry forecasts predicted origination volumes would fall 7% quarter-to-quarter in 4Q, early earnings numbers from Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Citi and PNC Bank show they were down just 3% when purchased loans are excluded.

But will the company's second attempt to go public come to fruition in a market where two lenders already put their offerings on hold?

The company had canceled its planned pricing of the deal at the end of October over stock market volatility.

Strong earnings expected in the next year will provide the best opportunity in decades to raise capital and monetize equity, Stephen Curry of Endurance Advisory Partners argues.

Noninterest income has bolstered profits this year. But its growth is expected to slow over the next two years, making for a gloomy earnings outlook unless vaccine distributions and the economic recovery are relatively swift.