The Institutional Risk Analyst

The UWMC stock bounced on Friday to $1.40 vs $1 a week before, but can the markets move to the key threshold of $2 given the limited disclosure and some inconsistencies that we discuss below? The contrarian in us thinks that there may be more upside in UWMC that many realize, as we discuss below, but remember that this is a non-bank mortgage issuer that is in the process of making significant operational changes.

UWMC must completely focus any partial redemption efforts on cleaning up Oaktree's senior Series A-1 shares first before it can touch junior tiers of preferred capital. Shareholders widely expect UWMC to sweep its core free cash flow exclusively toward these preferred redemptions in the coming years to remove Oaktree's high-coupon burden, but the available cash flow may not even be sufficient to cover the dividend. That is, Oaktree owns UWMC.

Bank of America CIO Michael Hartnett notes that it is imperative for the Bessent/Warsh combo to stop higher US Treasury yields, since long duration trades are working ”too well.” We view such talk as wishful thinking from the Sell Side of the market. There is no way for the Treasury to force LT yields down, thus the only alternative is for the Fed to 1) raise ST interest rates and 2) restart quantitative easing (QE), an eventuality that will signal surrender on the fight aga

Some observers think that United Wholesale Mortgage Corp (UWMC) collapsed into the arms of Oaktree Capital Management because they erroneously hedged Two Harbors, a company they ultimately did not buy. But this is wrong. UWMC collapsed because the CEO, Mat Ishbia, extracted hundreds of millions of dollars in cash from a company that was never really profitable. UWMC was run for volume, not profits. Indeed, his aggressive strategy compressed profits across the entire mortgage

People in the private credit trade will tell you that raising new money is almost impossible. Why? Because there are growing signs of contagion in the insurance sector after years of dubious business practices by insurers controlled by private credit firms. As details of some of these situations emerge, we suspect that the mainstream media will become more engaged.

We think the board of UWMC has a duty to ask for the resignation of the current CEO Mat Ishbia, should ask Howard Marks, Chairman of Oaktree, to chair the board, and should commence a search for a replacement CEO or pursue a sale. The magnificent loan funnel created by some refugees from Flagstar for Mat Ishbia has enormous value, but the current management instead seems intent upon destroying value at every turn.