New Residential Announces Fourth Quarter & Full Year 2015 Results

New Residential Investment Corp. (NYSE:NRZ; “New Residential” or the “Company”) today reported the following information for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2015:

FOURTH QUARTER FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS:

• Core Earnings of $120 million, or $0.52 per diluted share*
• GAAP Net Income of $103 million, or $0.45 per diluted share
• Common dividend of $106 million, or $0.46 per share

FULL YEAR 2015 FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS:

• Core Earnings of $389 million, or $1.92 per diluted share*
• GAAP Net Income of $269 million, or $1.32 per diluted share
• Common dividend of $355 million, or $1.75 per share
• Increased quarterly common dividend in Q2 2015 and Q3 2015

*Core Earnings is a non-GAAP measure. For a reconciliation of Core Earnings to GAAP Net Income, please refer to the Reconciliation of Core Earnings below.
**All per share data and share amounts included have been adjusted for the 1-for-2 reverse split effective October 17, 2014.

Fourth Quarter 2015 & Subsequent Highlights:

• Servicer Advances -

• Significantly Improved Advance Financing - During the quarter, New Residential continued to improve advance financing by enhancing advance rates, extending maturities and lowering cost of funds.
  • In November 2015, New Residential continued to diversify its funding sources by issuing $800 million of servicer advance-backed, fixed rate term notes. In addition, the Company improved its financing capacity by increasing an existing Ocwen-serviced advance facility from $400 million to $1.0 billion.
  • In December 2015, New Residential established a new $750 million, fixed rate, two-year facility for Ocwen advances.
  • During the quarter, the Company extended maturities on four advance facilities totaling $2.3 billion.
• Repayment of $2.5 Billion HSART Term Notes at Par - On October 2, 2015, New Residential repaid $2.5 billion of term notes issued by HLSS Servicer Advance Receivables Trust (“HSART”) by accessing $4 billion of previously secured surplus servicer advance financing commitments from its lenders. Under New Residential’s surplus funding commitments, the Company was able to increase advance rates by approximately 6% and liquidity by approximately $200 million.

• Non-Agency Securities & Call Rights - In the fourth quarter, New Residential continued to execute on its deal collapse strategy by exercising clean-up call rights on 28 seasoned, Non-Agency deals totaling $654 million UPB. In addition, the Company completed a $510 million loan securitization in November 2015. Subsequent to year end, the Company initiated execution of clean-up call rights on an additional 14 seasoned Non-Agency deals totaling $200 million UPB.
• Excess MSRs - During the quarter, New Residential funded $123 million of previously announced commitments on $19 billion UPB of legacy MSRs. In addition, the Company is currently eligible to own MSRs across 38 U.S. states, up from 30 states in third quarter 2015, with remaining state and Agency approvals currently expected during 2016. ⁽¹⁾
• Announced $200 Million Share Repurchase Program - On January 19, 2016, New Residential announced that its Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to $200 million of the Company's common stock over the next 12 months. ⁽²⁾

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

For additional information that management believes to be useful for investors, please refer to the latest presentation posted on the Investor Relations section of the Company’s website, www.newresi.com. For consolidated investment portfolio information, please refer to the Company’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, which are available on the Company’s website; www.newresi.com.

EARNINGS CONFERENCE CALL

New Residential’s management will host a conference call on Wednesday, February 24, 2016 at 8:00 A.M. Eastern Time. A copy of the earnings release will be posted to the Investor Relations section of New Residential’s website, www.newresi.com.

All interested parties are welcome to participate on the live call. The conference call may be accessed by dialing 1-866-393-1506 (from within the U.S.) or 1-706-634-0623 (from outside of the U.S.) ten minutes prior to the scheduled start of the call; please reference “New Residential Fourth Quarter & Full Year 2015 Earnings Call.”

A simultaneous webcast of the conference call will be available to the public on a listen-only basis at www.newresi.com. Please allow extra time prior to the call to visit the website and download any necessary software required to listen to the internet broadcast.

A telephonic replay of the conference call will also be available two hours following the call’s completion through 11:59 P.M. Eastern Time on Wednesday, March 9, 2016 by dialing 1-855-859-2056 (from within the U.S.) or 1-404-537-3406 (from outside of the U.S.); please reference access code “48692501.”

CORE EARNINGS

New Residential has four primary variables that impact the Company’s operating performance: (i) the current yield earned on the Company’s investments, (ii) the interest expense under the debt incurred to finance the Company’s investments, (iii) the Company’s operating expenses and taxes and (iv) the Company’s realized and unrealized gain or losses, including any impairment and deferred tax, on the Company’s investments. “Core earnings” is a non-GAAP measure of the Company’s operating performance excluding the fourth variable above and adjusting the earnings from the consumer loan investment to a level yield basis. It is used by management to evaluate the Company’s performance without taking into account: (i) realized and unrealized gains and losses, which although they represent a part of the Company’s recurring operations, are subject to significant variability and are only a potential indicator of future economic performance; (ii) incentive compensation paid to the Company’s Manager; (iii) non-capitalized transaction-related expenses; and (iv) deferred taxes, which are not representative of current operations.

While incentive compensation paid to the Company’s Manager may be a material operating expense, the Company excludes it from core earnings because (i) from time to time, a component of the computation of this expense will relate to items (such as gains or losses) that are excluded from core earnings, and (ii) it is impractical to determine the portion of the expense related to core earnings and non-core earnings, and the type of earnings (loss) that created an excess (deficit) above or below, as applicable, the incentive compensation threshold. To illustrate why it is impractical to determine the portion of incentive compensation expense that should be allocated to core earnings, the Company notes that, as an example, in a given period, it may have core earnings in excess of the incentive compensation threshold but incur losses (which are excluded from core earnings) that reduce total earnings below the incentive compensation threshold. In such case, the Company would either need to (a) allocate zero incentive compensation expense to core earnings, even though core earnings exceeded the incentive compensation threshold, or (b) assign a “pro forma” amount of incentive compensation expense to core earnings, even though no incentive compensation was actually incurred. The Company believes that neither of these allocation methodologies achieves a logical result. Accordingly, the exclusion of incentive compensation facilitates comparability between periods and avoids the distortion to the Company’s non-GAAP operating measure that would result from the inclusion of incentive compensation that relates to non-core earnings.

With regard to non-capitalized transaction-related expenses, management does not view these costs as part of the Company’s core operations. Non-capitalized transaction-related expenses are generally legal and valuation service costs, as well as other professional service fees, incurred when the Company acquires certain investments, as well as costs associated with the acquisition and integration of acquired businesses. Non-capitalized transaction-related expenses for the year ended December 31, 2015 include a $9.1 million settlement which the Company agreed to pay in connection with HSART. These costs are recorded as “General and administrative expenses” in the Company’s Consolidated Statements of Income. “Other (income) loss” excludes $14.5 million accrued during the year ended December 31, 2015 related to a reimbursement from Ocwen for certain increased costs resulting from further S&P servicer rating downgrades of Ocwen.

In the fourth quarter of 2014, the Company modified its definition of core earnings to include accretion on held-for-sale loans as if they continued to be held-for-investment. Although the Company intends to sell such loans, there is no guarantee that such loans will be sold or that they will be sold within any expected timeframe. During the period prior to sale, the Company continues to receive cash flows from such loans and believe that it is appropriate to record a yield thereon. This modification had no impact on core earnings in 2014 or any prior period. In the second quarter of 2015, the Company modified its definition of core earnings to exclude all deferred taxes, rather than just deferred taxes related to unrealized gains or losses, because the Company believes deferred taxes are not representative of current operations. This modification was applied prospectively due to only immaterial impacts in prior periods. In the fourth quarter of 2015, the Company modified its definition of core earnings to limit accreted interest income on RMBS where the Company receives par upon the exercise of associated call rights based on the estimated value of the underlying collateral. The Company made the modification in order to be able to accrete to the lower of par or the value of the underlying collateral, in instances where the value of the underlying collateral is lower than par. The Company believes this amount represents the amount of accretion the Company would have expected to earn on such bonds had the call rights not been exercised. This modification had no impact on core earnings in prior periods.

Management believes that the adjustments to compute “core earnings” specified above allow investors and analysts to readily identify the operating performance of the assets that form the core of the Company’s activity, assist in comparing the core operating results between periods, and enable investors to evaluate the Company’s current performance using the same measure that management uses to operate the business.

The primary differences between core earnings and the measure the Company uses to calculate incentive compensation relate to (i) realized gains and losses (including impairments), (ii) non-capitalized transaction-related expenses and (iii) deferred taxes (other than those related to unrealized gains and losses). Each are excluded from core earnings and included in the Company’s incentive compensation measure (either immediately or through amortization). In addition, the Company’s incentive compensation measure does not include accretion on held-for-sale loans and the timing of recognition of income from consumer loans is different. Unlike core earnings, the Company’s incentive compensation measure is intended to reflect all realized results of operations.

Core earnings does not represent and should not be considered as a substitute for, or superior to, net income or as a substitute for, or superior to, cash flow from operating activities, each as determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP, and the Company’s calculation of this measure may not be comparable to similarly entitled measures reported by other companies.

ABOUT NEW RESIDENTIAL

New Residential focuses on opportunistically investing in, and actively managing, investments related to residential real estate. The Company primarily targets investments in mortgage servicing related assets and other related opportunistic investments. New Residential is organized and conducts its operations to qualify as a real estate investment trust (“REIT”) for federal income tax purposes. The Company is managed by an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group LLC (NYSE: FIG), a global investment management firm.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Certain statements in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, such as statements regarding the amount, timing and manner of the Company’s repurchase of its shares pursuant to the stock repurchase program and the ability to obtain and timing for obtaining state and Agency approvals for MSR licensing. The Company may not be able to receive remaining approvals during 2016 or at all. These statements are based on management's current expectations and beliefs and are subject to a number of trends and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements, many of which are beyond the Company’s control. The Company can give no assurance that its expectations will be attained. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements contained in this press release. For a discussion of some of the risks and important factors that could affect such forward-looking statements, see the sections entitled “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” incorporated by reference in the Company’s Annual Reports on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, which are available on the Company’s website (www.newresi.com). In addition, new risks and uncertainties emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for the Company to predict or assess the impact of every factor that may cause its actual results to differ from those contained in any forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in the Company's expectations with regard thereto or change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any statement is based.

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