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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsCompare mortgage-focused stocks by matching reporting periods, defining earnings measures, tracking book value, and understanding each company’s assets, financing, and risks. A headline dividend yield or one quarter’s earnings figure is not enough: companies with “mortgage” in their names can own very different investments, and similarly named performance measures may not mean the same thing.
Start with the reporting period and the portfolio
Use filings for the same quarter-end wherever possible. Quarterly results describe conditions at a particular time, and comparing one company’s recent figures with another’s older figures can produce a misleading ranking. Label each figure with its period and distinguish historical results from forward-looking statements.
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Before comparing earnings or yield, identify what each company owns. Mortgage-focused businesses may hold agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS), non-agency MBS, whole loans, mortgage servicing rights, or credit-risk-transfer exposures. These assets transmit borrower credit performance and market movements to shareholders in different ways. Review the issuer’s portfolio disclosures rather than inferring exposure from its name.
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Compare earnings only after checking definitions
Begin with GAAP net income, then review any issuer-defined measure management uses to describe recurring or distributable performance. Examples include earnings available for distribution and net spread and dollar roll income. A non-GAAP measure may offer another view of results, but it is not a substitute for GAAP earnings and should not be treated as interchangeable with a similarly named measure from another issuer.
#1 Best Overall
- Read the measure’s definition and the reconciliation to GAAP results.
- Check what it includes or excludes, and whether it is presented per share or as a total.
- Compare net interest spread or margin only after checking how the issuer calculates it and which assets and funding costs it covers.
For example, Annaly Capital Management reported a GAAP net interest spread of 1.16% for Q2 2026, compared with 1.07% for Q1 2026. Those are Annaly’s issuer-reported, period-specific figures—not a sector benchmark. Annaly’s Q2 2026 financial supplement provides its measure and related reporting.
Read book value as a dated snapshot
Book value per share is a balance-sheet measure at a specified date, not a forecast of future performance. Compare successive quarter-end figures and check whether each issuer reports GAAP, tangible, or economic book value; the definitions may differ. To understand a change, examine portfolio marks and hedge exposures, and consider dividend and total-return context where the filing provides it.
Rank #2
Annaly reported book value per common share of $20.15 at June 30, 2026, up from $19.82 at March 31, 2026. These are dated company figures, not current prices or predictions. The Q2 2026 supplement reports the relevant quarter-end measure.
Separate borrower credit risk from market risk
Agency and non-agency mortgage exposures are not interchangeable. Review the filing for the specific securities, loans, servicing rights, and credit-related exposures the company holds, along with any disclosed delinquency or loss information. Portfolio composition helps show where borrower credit deterioration could affect the company, but it does not capture every way shareholders can lose value.
Mortgage portfolios can also be affected by interest-rate changes, mortgage-spread widening, prepayments, extensions, liquidity conditions, and financing pressure. The significance of each depends on the assets and financing strategy. In its 2025 Form 10-K, AGNC Investment Corp. states: “Our hedging strategies are generally not designed to protect our net book value from spread risk”. The statement describes AGNC’s strategy, not every mortgage-focused company. AGNC’s 2025 Form 10-K and Q2 2026 Form 10-Q discuss its risk exposures.
Put funding costs and leverage beside returns
Compare asset yields with the cost of funding those assets, and check the issuer’s spread or margin definition and financing disclosures. Funding may reprice; leverage can magnify both gains and losses as asset values or financing conditions change. A wider spread or higher leverage is not automatically an advantage without understanding the assets, funding, and risks behind it.
Rank #4
Look for the company’s leverage measure and whether it is GAAP or economic leverage. Annaly reported period-end GAAP leverage of 7.4x at June 30, 2026, versus 7.3x at March 31, 2026; its economic leverage was 5.6x and 5.7x at those respective dates. These are different measures and should not be compared with another issuer’s figures until definitions and calculation bases are understood. See Annaly’s Q2 2026 supplement.
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Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallA separate illustration shows why spread figures need their portfolio context: New Residential Investment Corp. reported a 0.6% spread for its non-agency securities portfolio at March 31, 2026, based on a 5.8% weighted-average asset yield and 5.2% funding cost. That figure applies to the specified portfolio and date; it is not directly comparable with another issuer’s differently constructed spread measure. The company’s Q1 2026 Form 10-Q provides the portfolio and financing discussion.
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For each company, record the same quarter-end and fill in the measures from its filings before drawing conclusions:
- Earnings: GAAP net income per share and any issuer-defined recurring or distributable measure, with definitions and reconciliations.
- Book value: Per-share figure, definition, and change across comparable quarter ends; relate movements to portfolio marks and hedge exposures.
- Portfolio and credit: Agency and non-agency MBS, loans, servicing rights, credit-risk-transfer exposures, and disclosed credit performance.
- Funding and leverage: Asset yields, funding costs, spread or margin, financing types, leverage definitions, and liquidity disclosures.
- Market sensitivity: Rate, spread, prepayment, extension, liquidity, and hedge risks described by the issuer.
This framework does not yield a universal “best” mortgage stock. It makes the comparison more meaningful by showing what each reported number measures, which exposures drive it, and whether the companies are being compared on the same date and basis.
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