Eagle Point Income Company Inc. (EIC) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Greetings, and welcome to the Eagle Point Income Company's Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce Darren Daugherty from Prosek Partners. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator, and good morning. Welcome to Eagle Point Income Company's earnings conference call for the second quarter of 2026. Speaking on the call today are Thomas Majewski, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the company; Dan Ko, Senior Principal and Portfolio Manager for the company's Adviser; and Lena Umnova, Chief Accounting Officer for the Adviser. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that the matters discussed on this call include forward-looking statements or projected financial information that involve risks and uncertainties that may cause the company's actual results to differ materially from such projections. For further information on factors that could impact the company and the statements and projections contained herein, please refer to the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Each forward-looking statement or projection of financial information made during this call is based on the information available to us as of the date of this call. We disclaim any obligation to update our forward-looking statements unless required by law. Earlier today, we filed our second quarter 2026 financial statements and investor presentation with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These are also available in the Investor Relations section of the company's website, eaglepointincome.com. A replay of this call will also be made available later today. I will now turn the call over to Thomas Majewski, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Eagle Point Income Company. Tom?

Thank you, Darren, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining the Eagle Point Income Company earnings call today. EIC had a strong second quarter. As of June 30, our net asset value stood at $12.52 per share, which is an increase of 4% from $11.99 per share as of March 31. For the quarter, the company generated a GAAP return on common equity of 7.1%. During the quarter, we paid an aggregate of $0.33 per share in cash distributions to our common shareholders. The improvement in NAV was driven by a meaningful recovery in loan prices and CLO valuations following the volatility experienced in the first quarter. Concerns around the potential impact of artificial intelligence on software borrowers, together with geopolitical developments weighed on leveraged loan prices and CLO valuations during the quarter. As sentiment improved during the second quarter, loan prices and CLO valuations recovered meaningfully while underlying credit fundamentals remained resilient. We believe the first quarter decline reflected a market-driven pricing pressure rather than a broad deterioration in credit. Elevated refinancing, reset, and call activity during the second quarter resulted in the early repayment of certain of our CLO debt investments. Because many of these investments were purchased at discounts to par, the repayment at par allowed us to realize convexity embedded in those investments sooner than we had originally anticipated. During the quarter, we deployed $39 million into new investments at a weighted average effective yield of 17.9%, allocating capital across CLO debt, CLO equity and complementary credit investments that -- where we identified what we believe to be very attractive risk-adjusted returns. We also repositioned the portfolio by rotating capital away from a certain group of underperforming CLO collateral managers towards higher conviction opportunities across CLOs and other private credit investments. While this resulted in certain losses being realized, those losses had largely been reflected as unrealized losses in prior periods resulting in minimal incremental impact on our NAV during the quarter. Importantly, we believe the actions taken improve the portfolio's risk-adjusted return potential and enhance its long-term earnings power. Throughout the quarter, we continued to actively manage our CLO portfolio by completing 1 reset and 2 refinancings of CLO equity positions. These actions resulted in a weighted average cost savings of 33 basis points for those CLOs. In addition to lowering the debt costs, the reset position also extended its reinvestment period out to 5 years. While CLO junior debt remains central to EIC's strategy, we continue to selectively increase our exposure to infrastructure credit, portfolio debt securities, asset-backed securities and other strategic credit investments. These opportunities are sourced through dedicated teams with specialized expertise across the broader Eagle Point platform. As of June 30, CLO debt represented approximately 59% of our portfolio and CLO equity represented about 19% of our portfolio. Non-CLO investments totaled approximately 22% of our portfolio. We believe this broader opportunity set enhances portfolio diversification and allows us to allocate capital to the most attractive risk-adjusted return opportunities we see in the credit markets. One recent example we wanted to share is our investment with Sports Illustrated Tickets, a specialty finance transaction that we originated that was secured by World Cup tickets that was originated by the Eagle Point team. Following a 7-month holding period, this investment generated a 1.2x multiple on investment capital when it was fully realized back in June. We believe Eagle Point's ability to source differentiated investment opportunities complements EIC's core CLO junior debt strategy and enhances long-term shareholder value. Turning to our capital structure. During the second quarter, we issued $1 million of our 6% Series AA convertible perpetual preferred stock. This fixed rate perpetual financing provides an attractive source of long-term capital and additional flexibility to deploy capital when compelling opportunities arise. You see this financing as a significant competitive advantage, and we're unaware of any other public CLO debt-focused fund with a similar perpetual convertible preferred program. I'll now turn the call over to Senior Principal and Portfolio Manager, Dan Ko, for an update on the market.

Thanks, Tom. I'll provide a brief update on the loan and CLO markets. The S&P UBS leveraged loan index rose 1.9% in the second quarter and returned 0.8% in July. Average corporate revenue and EBITDA growth remained positive, supporting overall credit fundamentals across the broadly syndicated loan market despite continued dispersion across sectors and issuers. The trailing 12-month loan default rate ended the quarter at 1.0% compared with 1.4% on March 31st and remained below its long-term average of 2.5%. EIC's look-through exposure to defaulted loans remained low at 36 basis points, significantly below the broader market average. We believe this reflects both the quality of our underlying loan holdings, our active portfolio management and disciplined investment process. Software remained an area of focus during the quarter as investors continue to assess the long-term impact of AI across different sectors. AI will likely create both winners and losers, but many software businesses continue to benefit from recurring contracted revenue, sticky customer relationships and mission-critical products. We believe the market reaction earlier this year overstated the likely impact on the broader software sector. For EIC, the diversification and structural protection within our CLO debt investments further helped mitigate the impact of weakness in any individual borrower or sector. Loan prices recovered during the second quarter, although the improvement remained uneven across individual credits. At the end of the quarter, the look-through underlying loan portfolio had a weighted average market price of $95.30 providing opportunities for par-building through discounted loan purchases. In terms of CLO market activity, new issuance totaled $33 billion during the second quarter compared with $47 billion in the first quarter. Reset activity totaled $55 billion compared with $32 billion in the first quarter, while refinancing activity totaled $39 billion compared with $24 billion in the first quarter. We expect refinancing and reset activity to remain robust. For our CLO equity investments, this activity can lower liability costs and extend reinvestment periods. For CLO debt investments purchased at a discount, resets, refinancings, and calls can create additional opportunities to realize embedded gains through early repayments at par. We continue to believe CLO junior debt offers an attractive combination of floating rate income, structural protection and low historical credit expense relative to comparably rated corporate securities. If interest rates remain elevated or increase over the near to intermediate term, our CLO debt portfolio is positioned to benefit from higher income. Our CLO equity investments are less sensitive to changes in benchmark rates because returns are driven primarily by the underlying loan asset spreads less the CLO's financing costs. At the company level, the combination of predominantly floating rate investments and fixed rate preferred financing creates an attractive earnings profile in this environment. With that, I'll hand it over to our Adviser's Chief Accounting Officer, Lena Umnova to walk through our financial results.

Thank you, Dan. During the second quarter, the company generated net investment income, or NII, of $0.37 per share. NII less realized losses from investments was negative $0.29 per share. This compares to NII less realized losses from investments of $0.34 per share in the first quarter of 2026, and NII and realized gains of $0.39 per share in the second quarter of 2025. Including unrealized portfolio gains, GAAP net income was $20 million, or $0.84 per share for the second quarter of 2026. This compares to GAAP net loss of $0.95 per share in the first quarter of 2026 and GAAP net income of $0.49 per share in the second quarter of 2025. Recurring cash flows from company's investment portfolio totaled $12 million, or $0.52 per share during the quarter and exceeded the company's common stock distributions and expenses. We paid 3 monthly common stock distributions of $0.11 per share during the quarter, and we declared monthly common stock distributions of $0.11 per share for the remainder of 2026. We believe the current distribution level reflects the company's near-term earnings potentials in today's interest rate environment. Looking at our capital structure. As of June month end, the company had outstanding preferred equity securities equal to 12% of total assets less current liabilities. This is below our target range of 25% to 35%, where we expect to operate the company under normal market conditions. We expect leverage to increase over time as we raise additional capital through our continued offering of the Series AA and AB convertible perpetual preferred stock, the program that we launched early in 2026. Looking at our portfolio activity during the month of July, the company received recurring cash flows from its investments totaled $8 million. Note that some of the company's investments are still expected to make payments later in the quarter. As of July month-end, net of pending investment transactions and settlement, the company had over $53 million of cash and revolver capacity available for investment and other purposes. Management's unaudited estimate of the company's NAV as of July month-end was between $12.30 and $12.40 per share. At the midpoint, this represented a 1% decrease from June month end. I will now turn the call back over to Tom to provide closing remarks before we take your questions.

Thanks, Lena. The second quarter demonstrated the benefits of active portfolio management and access to the full Eagle Point platform. We continue to selectively rotate capital towards higher conviction opportunities across CLO debt, CLO equity and differentiated private credit investments while strengthening our capital structure. With healthy CLO fundamentals, a predominantly floating rate investment portfolio and fixed rate preferred financing, we believe EIC is well positioned to generate attractive income and long-term value for our fellow shareholders. We appreciate your continued support, and thank you for your time and interest in Eagle Point Income Company. Lena, Dan and I will now open the call to your questions. Operator?

[Operator Instructions] Our first question is from Erik Zwick with Lucid Capital Markets.

Maybe just start with a question on the recurring cash distributions. You noted $8.3 million here to start the -- third quarter was a little bit more expected throughout the quarter. That rate would seem to be below what we've seen in the past couple of quarters and kind of, continuing a downward trend. So if you could, kind of, just frame it in terms of how much of that is related to, kind of, market factors versus the portfolio performance and then, kind of, what it would take to, kind of, see an inflection point and see that start growing again. Kind of curious on your thoughts there.

Yes. So this is Dan Ko here. A few things. So on the CLO debt side, I mean, given that we're seeing -- or we expect, kind of, rates to increase in the near to, kind of, intermediate term. Our expectation is that the cash -- at least the income from the CLO debt portion of the portfolio will likely increase over the next few months as, kind of, base rates increase. The decrease in cash flows was probably mainly driven by the CLO equity portion of the portfolio, which has, kind of, faced spread compression over the past, kind of -- at least during 2025 and the effects of that is really being felt more now as all those, kind of, loan, kind of, coupons were reset. Some of it is also driven by the fact that the underlying in some of the CLOs do have semiannual paying bonds, and so there is a little bit of, kind of, a saw too, sort of, payments for CLO equity and that it will be down one quarter and then up another quarter, kind of, depending on how big the bond bucket is. So this quarter, kind of, being down, I expect this quarter meaning Q2 or Q3, then the following quarter would be higher. So our expectation is that we expect it to, kind of, recover over time.

Thanks, Dan. And Tom, I think when we -- on last quarter's call, when you discussed the opportunity for share repurchases. I think you noted that you had -- you're not used aggressive as you had in past quarters. NAV for the fund has recovered nicely in the past quarter. The stock price is not. So I guess, with the, kind of, discounted valuation again. Just curious if you could update your thoughts on allocating capital towards share repurchases in the next quarter or two?

Yes. The thing we grapple with, we definitely saw the increase in NAV coming. So we felt it happening as it happened, I guess, I don't know if you never say for sure you saw it coming. We're mindful of the discount on the share price balanced against the liquidity in the stock and the daily volume. And one of the things, I think I said on the last call was, we backed off somewhat just due to the impact we saw on the volume of the stock as we were buying it back. So we're kind of balancing the two of those. At the same time, I also point out our leverage is well below our target ratio here. So actually buying back equity might be helpful to get back in a little bit in line in the -- of our leverage category, although we do have, I think, the revolver as of quarter end certainly was fully undrawn, correct, Lena?

Yes.