New Residential's 1Q18 earnings jump on higher servicing revenue

New Residential Investment Corp. reported a 400% year-over-year increase in net income as its servicing revenue improved dramatically over the previous year.

The company posted net income of $604.3 million for the first quarter, up from $288.3 million in the fourth quarter and $121.4 million in the first quarter of 2017.

Net servicing revenue was $217.2 million, compared with $154.9 million in the fourth quarter and $40.6 million one year ago.

New Residential had a total mortgage servicing portfolio at the end of the first quarter of $535 billion, according to the company's earnings supplement. That total included $110 billion of the economic rights to MSRs it purchased from Ocwen in January, as well as $8 billion from PHH and $7 billion from Shellpoint Partners of MSRs it had yet to close on.

New Residential agreed to purchase Shellpoint in November for $190 million. That deal is expected to close in the current quarter, New Residential said in its earnings supplement.

The total also included $174 billion of excess MSRs; excess MSRs are the monthly cash flow that remains with the servicer after it sends the investor the amount it is owed on the underlying mortgage.

While at the end of the first quarter of 2017, New Residential had $578 billion of total MSRs (including $67 billion that it agreed to purchase from PHH but had not closed on yet), $326 billion were excess MSRs.

In the most recent quarter, New Residential acquired $12 billion of MSRs from Walter Investment Management (now Ditech Holding Corp. after it emerged from bankruptcy); $8 billion from Shellpoint; along with $18 billion from other companies. During the quarter and subsequently, New Residential agreed to purchase an additional $38 billion of MSRs for $364 million.

Also during the quarter, New Residential executed cleanup calls on 32 non-agency RMBS deals with an aggregate UPB of approximately $500 million and it completed a $727 million non-agency loan securitization.