DATA DISPATCH

US mortgage REITs biggest losers among financial stocks in

March
Friday, April 3, 2020 1:58 PM ET

By Ronamil Portes and Zuhaib Gull

Market Intelligence

U.S. financial stocks fell sharply in March as world markets reacted to fallout from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Mortgage real estate investment trusts were hit especially hard as investors grew worried about the industry's ability to
meet increased margin calls. Sixteen of the 20 worst-performing U.S. financial stocks in March were mortgage REITs.

Invesco Mortgage Capital Inc.’s stock had the worst performance

among U.S. financial stocks in March, losing 78.8%, compared to a
23.6% median loss for the U.S. financial industry.

On March 24, the company disclosed that it was discussing

forbearance agreements with its financial counterparties in relation
to margin call payments. The mortgage REIT also announced that it
would delay dividends on its common stock and preferred stock.

Western Asset Mortgage Capital Corp. had the second-worst loss of the month at 77.1%. Western Asset Mortgage also
announced that it will be suspending its first-quarter common stock dividend due to the market disruptions caused by
the pandemic.

MFA Financial Inc. had the third-poorest performance, losing 75.7%.

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 Meanwhile, payment processor NIC Inc.’s shares returned 26.4% in March, making it the best-performing financial stock
of the month.

Insurance technology company eHealth Inc. ranked second with a 20.0% return, followed by insurer Palomar Holdings
Inc. with a 14.5% gain.

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 This article was published by S&P Global Market Intelligence and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately
managed division of S&P Global.
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