Earnings call transcript: Eagle Point Income Q3 2025 reveals strategic shifts

Eagle Point Income Company reported its Q3 2025 earnings, highlighting a net investment income of $0.39 per share. The company saw its net asset value (NAV) rise to $14.21 per share, up from $14.08. Despite a reduction in monthly distributions from $0.13 to $0.11 per share due to anticipated lower earnings, the company remains focused on strategic portfolio rotations and maintaining earnings power. The stock closed at $12.02, reflecting a 1.2% decrease.

Key Takeaways

• Net investment income stood at $0.39 per share, with a NAV increase to $14.21.
• The company deployed $60 million in new investments, achieving a 16.6% yield on new CLO equity.
• A reduction in monthly distribution to $0.11 per share was announced.
• The stock saw a 1.2% decline, closing at $12.02.

Company Performance

Eagle Point Income Company demonstrated solid financial performance in Q3 2025, driven by strategic investments and operational adjustments. The company deployed $60 million in new investments, achieving a 16.6% yield on new CLO equity. The NAV increase to $14.21 per share reflects the company’s effective capital management and investment strategies. However, the reduction in monthly distributions indicates a cautious outlook due to expected lower earnings amid potential Fed rate cuts.

Financial Highlights

• Net investment income: $0.39 per share
• Realized capital losses: $0.13 per share
• Recurring cash flows: $17 million or $0.67 per share
• NAV: $14.21 per share, up from $14.08
• GAAP return on equity: 3%

Outlook & Guidance

Looking ahead, Eagle Point Income anticipates lower earnings due to possible Federal Reserve rate cuts. The company plans to focus on portfolio rotations to sustain earnings power and expects lower interest costs for loan issuers. The reduction in monthly distribution to $0.11 per share underscores a strategic adjustment to align with expected financial conditions.

Executive Commentary

Thomas Majewski, CEO, emphasized the importance of patience and capital strength in the current market, stating, "Periods like this often reward patient, well-capitalized investors." Dan Ko, Portfolio Manager, reiterated the company’s commitment to CLO investments, noting, "CLO BB securities are by no means a sector that we’re trying to exit."

Risks and Challenges

• Potential impact of Federal Reserve rate cuts on earnings.
• Market volatility affecting investment yields and NAV.
• Increased default rates in the loan market, although still below long-term averages.

Eagle Point Income’s strategic initiatives and financial resilience position it well to navigate the anticipated market challenges. The company’s focus on capital deployment and operational efficiency continues to drive its performance, despite the cautious outlook for earnings.

Full transcript - Eagle Point Income Company Fund (EIC) Q3 2025:

Conference Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your patience. We will begin in about two minutes. Again, we thank you for your patience. We’ll start in less than two minutes. Thank you. Greetings and welcome to the Eagle Point Income Company third quarter 2025 financial results call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Darren Daugherty. Thank you. You may begin.

Darren Daugherty, Earnings Call Introducer, Eagle Point Income Company: Thank you, Operator, and good morning. Welcome to Eagle Point Income Company’s earnings conference call for the third quarter of 2025. 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 advisor; and Lena Onorio, Chief Accounting Officer for the advisor. 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 third quarter 2025 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?

Thomas Majewski, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Eagle Point Income Company: Thank you, Darren and good morning, everyone. We’re glad you’re joining the call with us today. EIC had a positive third quarter. Our NAV increased, and we covered our distribution from both net interest income as well as recurring cash flows. The scale and experience of the Eagle Point platform remain key advantages as we seek to capitalize on opportunities in a dynamic market environment for CLO investing. For the quarter, the company generated net investment income less realized losses of $0.26 per share. This was made up of $0.39 per share of net investment income and offset by $0.13 of realized capital losses. Recurring cash flows totaled $17 million or $0.67 per share, and this is consistent with the prior quarter’s $18 million or $0.67 per share. Recurring cash flows exceeded our regular common distribution and total expenses by $0.05 per share.

NAV rose to $14.21 per share as of September 30th, and that’s up from $14.08 per share at the end of June. The increase reflects our continued portfolio performance, net investment income coverage of our common distribution, improving market conditions, and disciplined capital management. Our GAAP return on equity for the third quarter was 3%. During the quarter, we deployed $60 million into new investments. The new CLO equity we purchased during the quarter had a weighted average effective yield of 16.6%. The company’s ability to invest in both CLO debt and CLO equity in both the primary and secondary markets allows us to assess relative value opportunities wherever they present themselves. Backed by Eagle Point’s deep expertise in the CLO market, we believe this approach positions us to deliver attractive returns and long-term value for shareholders.

We completed three resets and four refinancings of our CLO equity positions during the quarter. These actions lowered the debt costs in those CLOs and, in the case of the resets, extended the reinvestment periods, which continue to enhance our portfolio’s weighted average remaining reinvestment period and long-term earnings power. During the third quarter, we issued $35 million of preferred stock through our At the Market program. In light of recent Fed rate cuts, earlier today, we announced the scheduled redemption of 100% of our 7.75% Series B Term Preferred Stock. This redemption allows us to further optimize our capital structure and reduce financing costs, positioning the company to enhance earnings power for our common shareholders over time. Also, during the quarter, we repurchased $21 million of common stock at an average discount to NAV of 8.3%. This resulted in NAV accretion of $0.07 per share.

Today, we announced that our board has increased our common share repurchase authorization to $60 million from $50 million, which had been previously announced in June of this year. Since June, through October 31, we’ve repurchased in total $33 million of common stock at an average discount of 8.8% to NAV, creating $0.11 per share of NAV accretion for our shareholders. These actions reflect our ongoing commitment to enhancing shareholder value while maintaining prudent leverage and balance sheet flexibility. We plan to continue to be aggressive in buying back shares when they are trading at a discount to NAV. Since our last earnings call in August, the Fed has cut interest rates twice. Our CLO debt portfolio, which makes up the majority of our holdings, is directly indexed to short-term rates and will earn lower coupons as a result of the Fed rate cuts.

Earlier today, we declared three monthly distributions of $0.11 per share for the first quarter of 2026. This is a reduction from our previous monthly distribution of $0.13 per share and reflects largely the impact of the Fed rate cuts. The company’s board considers numerous factors when setting the monthly distribution level, including cash flow generated from the company’s investment portfolio, GAAP earnings, and the company’s requirement to distribute substantially all of its taxable income. We believe this new distribution level is aligned with the current interest rate environment and the company’s near-term earnings potential. CLO debt is a floating-rate asset, so it is expected that our earning power will move around as benchmark rates move, just as it increases when rates are rising. That said, we believe junior CLO debt continues to offer compelling risk-adjusted returns compared to comparably rated corporates, given its low credit expense and premium yield.

I’ll now turn the call over to Senior Principal and Portfolio Manager Dan Ko for an update on the market.

Dan Ko, Senior Principal and Portfolio Manager, Eagle Point Income Company Advisor: Thanks, Tom. I’ll provide a quick update on both the loan and CLO markets during the third quarter. The S&P UBS Leveraged Loan Index returned 1.6% for the quarter and continued to perform well through October, returning 0.3% for the month. There were five leveraged loan defaults during the quarter, and as of September 30th, the trailing 12-month default rate stood at 1.5%, up from 1.1% as of June 30th, but well below the long-term average of 2.6%. The widely reported First Brands default caused most of the increase in the default rate but had a minimal impact on the broader CLO market. First Brands accounts for only 25 basis points of our portfolio on a look-through basis, and we do not view it as an indication of widespread credit weakness.

Note that our CLO BBs benefit from par subordination, so the loss from First Brands was borne by the CLO equity. The company’s portfolio default exposure as of September 30 stood at 41 basis points, which is well below broader market levels. With rates expected to fall further, defaults should remain muted as loan issuers will have much lower interest costs. In addition, corporate fundamentals across the loan market remain resilient, with issuers generally continuing to grow revenue in EBITDA despite the effects of inflation, tariffs, and rates over the past year. During the quarter, approximately 6.8% of leveraged loans, or roughly 27% annualized, were prepaid at par. In general, loan issuers continue to be proactive in tackling their near-term maturities, and the maturity wall, as we have mentioned on prior calls, continues to be pushed out.

In terms of CLO new issuance, we saw $53 billion of volume during the quarter. This was up slightly from $51 billion in the second quarter. Reset and refinancing activity for the third quarter was $69 billion and $36 billion, respectively, both of which represented significant increases from the prior quarter. CLO debt spreads remain resilient despite the many bouts of volatility that we have observed in the third quarter. Although lower base rates weigh on the earnings power of our CLO debt portfolio, we view the yield and low credit expense offered by CLO BBs as very attractive relative to comparably rated fixed income instruments. Meanwhile, our CLO equity exposure provides a partial offset to lower rates, as it is less rate-sensitive. Returns are largely driven by spreads, not base rates.

In many respects, lower rates can be constructive for the asset class, easing interest costs for loan issuers and supporting continued credit stability, while also seeing increased LBO activity that contributes to new loan supply and wider loan spreads. As of September 30, we had $52 million of cash and undrawn revolver capacity available for investment and common stock repurchases, providing ample liquidity to act on the best relative value opportunities and deliver long-term value for our shareholders. With that, I’ll hand it over to our advisor’s Chief Accounting Officer, Lena Onorio, to walk through our financial results.

Lena Onorio, Chief Accounting Officer, Eagle Point Income Company Advisor: Thank you, Dan. For the third quarter, the company recorded net investment income less realized losses of $7.26 per share. This compares to NII unrealized gains of $0.39 per share for the last quarter and NII unrealized gains of $0.57 per share for the third quarter of last year. Including unrealized portfolio gains, GAAP net income was $11.43 per share for the third quarter of 2025. The company’s third quarter net income was comprised of investment income of $16 million and unrealized gains on investments of $5 million, partially offset by financing and operating expenses of $6 million, realized losses of $3 million, and unrealized losses on certain liabilities recorded at fair value of $1 million. Additionally, other comprehensive income was $1 million for the third quarter.

We paid three monthly distributions of $0.13 per share during the quarter, and earlier today, we declared three monthly distributions of $0.11 per share for the first quarter of next year. As of September month end, the company had outstanding preferred equity securities, which totaled 35% of total assets less current liabilities. This is at the top end of our long-term target leverage ratio range of 25%-35%, where we expect to operate the company under normal market conditions. The company’s asset coverage ratio at quarter end for preferred stock, calculated in accordance with investment company F requirements, was 285%. This is comfortably above the statutory requirements of 200%. As of September month end, the company’s NAV was $356 million or $14.21 per share, an increase versus $14.08 per share as of June month end.

During the quarter, we repurchased over 1.5 million shares of our common stock for the total amount of $21 million, at the average discount to NAV of 8.3% per share. This has resulted in NAV accretion of $0.07 per share. We would like to highlight that all repurchased shares were retired. Looking at our portfolio activity during the month of October, the company received recurring cash flows on its investment portfolio of $17 million. I would like to highlight that some of the company’s investments are still expected to make payments later in the quarter. As of October month end, net of pending investment transactions and settlement, the company had $55 million of cash and revolver capacity available for investment and other purposes. Management’s unaudited estimate of the company’s NAV as of October month end was between $13.94 and $14.04 per share.

I will now turn the call back over to Tom, who will provide closing remarks before we take your questions.

Thomas Majewski, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Eagle Point Income Company: Thanks, Lena. The third quarter demonstrated our focus on actively managing our portfolio and executing our strategy across shifting market conditions. We were selective in finding the best relative value opportunities between CLO debt and equity. We also remained active with our share repurchase program, aggressively buying back stock, which we believe is undervalued. The board increased the program, giving us more flexibility to keep buying our own stock at a discount. It’s a great investment for the company. Periods like this often reward patient, well-capitalized investors, and we believe the company is well-positioned to continue generating solid risk-adjusted returns and building long-term value for our shareholders. We appreciate your continued support. 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?

Conference Operator: Thank you. We will now be conducting a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press Star 1 on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press Star 2 to remove yourself from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up the handset before pressing the Star keys. One moment, please, while we poll for questions. Our first question comes from the line of Eric Zuick with Lucid Capital Markets. Please proceed with your question.

Darren Daugherty, Earnings Call Introducer, Eagle Point Income Company: Hey, Eric. How are you?

Eric Zuick, Analyst, Lucid Capital Markets: Hey, thanks. Good morning. Good to talk to you again today. I wanted to start just looking at slide 26, and it seems in the most recent data for revenue and EBITDA change for below investment-grade companies that we’ve seen a little bit of a pickup here. If we kind of take the Fed cuts and reductions and so forth that we’ve already seen and maybe extrapolate the futures curve a little bit, it seems like kind of profits for companies are trending in a positive direction. Just curious what that means for your expectations in terms of credit quality going forward. There certainly are some concerns in the market today and some unknowns with the macroeconomics, but wonder if you kind of put that together and kind of relay some thoughts on future credit quality.

Thomas Majewski, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Eagle Point Income Company: Yeah. Very good question. On this page, which looks like page 26 in the deck, you can see data going back over a decade, going back to 2012. Generically, below investment-grade companies should be growing at a faster rate than the economy. That’s just kind of the nature of the beast. They’re levered. They’re growth-oriented. In many cases, sponsor-backed. If you look at the last few quarters, in general, you can see a positive revenue trend and a positive-ish EBITDA trend. Not as good as the revenue trend. There’s a little bit of a spread there. Overall, that’s what we like to see. This goes through Q2, which does include some of the tariff-related behavior. Q3 data is still kind of being finalized right now. Overall, we view this as directionally credit positive. These numbers, I want to say they can never be big enough.

If the 6.3 and 4.3 were double, we wouldn’t object for sure. If they were triple, we might wonder what’s going on. Overall, the growth of these companies is very much moving back into the right direction. We certainly had a little bit of shock earlier in the year, but the takeaway here, if top line and bottom line are growing, those are credit positives broadly for the companies we deal with.

Dan Ko, Senior Principal and Portfolio Manager, Eagle Point Income Company Advisor: Yeah. If I might add, this is Dan Ko speaking. I mean, as long as these kind of companies continue to grow revenue and EBITDA, we have not seen defaults pick up materially. If anything, as kind of maybe the growth rate increases, we will likely see, I guess, defaults start to slow down, which we have seen in some of the kind of research that we are seeing, the outlooks for next year, kind of seeing default rates come down. We have even seen the percentage of kind of LMEs relative to last year kind of come down. Generally, with lower rates, should lower the interest costs for a lot of these companies. From a credit standpoint, should be at least some tailwinds going into next year.

Eric Zuick, Analyst, Lucid Capital Markets: That’s all great to hear. Then on the next slide, slide 27, there’s been a noticeable increase in annual trading volume really since 2020, maybe notwithstanding 2021. It looks like 25 is on pace to be a record if I just extrapolate into fourth quarter from the first three quarters. One, I guess maybe a two-part question. One, what has driven that increase over the past, call it, five-plus years? Two, what does that have or what does it mean for your business in managing Eagle Point Income Company?

Dan Ko, Senior Principal and Portfolio Manager, Eagle Point Income Company Advisor: Sure. In terms of kind of trading volumes, I think some of that has to do with the fact that there are just more eyes on CLOs. I think people have recognized just the premium yields that you can receive as well as the low credit expense for CLO debt relative to kind of other fixed income asset classes, rated fixed income asset classes that are out there. I think people have seen just the data and how well it has performed. We are seeing a lot more activity within the CLO space. There are more entrants kind of looking at buying CLO debt as well as equity, which has kind of increased the competitive landscape of being kind of the established player in the space.

Certainly helps in that we’re a top counterparty for nearly all the desks that are out there, both on our debt and equity standpoint. For your second part of your question, some of that, I guess, of the increase is really due to, I guess, the advent of ETFs that have come along kind of over the past couple of years or so. A lot of the, I think, the investment-grade trading activity is probably related to ETFs, some of the non-investment-grade as well. Ultimately, we think that the additional liquidity that we’re seeing within the market, I think, is good in that it allows us to be able to take kind of views on certain investments, to buy and sell. The bid-ask typically for a lot of these tranches has kind of tightened.

Just an easier way for us to kind of express views on our positions.

Eric Zuick, Analyst, Lucid Capital Markets: Thanks. Last one for me, just making sure I’m following your thoughts correctly. With reducing the dividend going into one Q of next year, safe to assume, I think you mentioned it’s primarily due to the Fed rate cuts that we’ve seen and maybe some more coming. Safe to kind of assume that you feel the earnings power of the portfolio is likely to trend down somewhat here from this level that you reported in the most recent quarter?

Dan Ko, Senior Principal and Portfolio Manager, Eagle Point Income Company Advisor: Yeah. I mean, it has something to do, obviously, with rates. It is a driver of that for the CLO debt portfolio. But we are making some rotations within the CLO equity portfolio to kind of increase earnings and to offset some of that, as well as some other higher-yielding investments. We change the dividend rate to what we see as kind of the near-term kind of rate that can be supported. Obviously, many factors kind of go into determining that each quarter along with the board. At least for Q1, we think that that is kind of the appropriate level.

Eric Zuick, Analyst, Lucid Capital Markets: Thank you for taking my questions.

Dan Ko, Senior Principal and Portfolio Manager, Eagle Point Income Company Advisor: Of course.

Conference Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Timothy Degasino with B. Riley Securities. Please proceed with your question.

Timothy Degasino, Analyst, B. Riley Securities: Yeah. Hi. Thank you. Kind of piggybacking off that last question in terms of asset rotation, it seems quarter over quarter, CLO debt decreased. That kind of breaks the trend of the past four quarters of more CLO debt assets. It also seems like you’re holding a lot more cash. I was just kind of wondering if you could provide some color around that activity. Thank you.

Dan Ko, Senior Principal and Portfolio Manager, Eagle Point Income Company Advisor: Yeah. Sure. So thanks, Tim, for your question. I mean, there have been a lot of refis and resets that have been happening in the CLO market as kind of the spreads for some of the older season kind of positions were in the money for the equity to kind of refinance. We saw a lot of paydowns in those investments. It is obviously sad to see kind of the higher yields go away, but it is also good to get par back a lot sooner than we had anticipated, certainly when we bought some of these at discounts. We have seen a little bit of a build-up in cash as we announced that some of that cash is going to be used to pay down the EICBs later this quarter.

That’s kind of, I guess, why we have a little bit more cash than usual. Also, it’s kind of finding the right kind of relative value in investments. CLO BB securities are by no means a sector that we’re trying to exit, but trying to pick our spots given that most of the paper that we think is interesting today is actually less new issue, but probably more refinancings and resets. They do come with a little bit of hair in the portfolios. They’re not as squeaky clean as new issue is, but you can pick up 50-100 basis points potentially. Kind of picking our spots and then also trying to pick our spots for CLO equity as well as other sort of higher-yielding investments.

Timothy Degasino, Analyst, B. Riley Securities: Okay. Great. Just as a follow-up to that on the cash component, you mentioned paying down the fees. Is that the primary focus, to pay down the fees with the cash, or will you also be looking to buy back common shares? Just trying to understand where we could see the cash go more towards. Is it going to be paying down the fees 100% and buying back some common, or will you really just be focused on paying down the fees? Thank you.

Dan Ko, Senior Principal and Portfolio Manager, Eagle Point Income Company Advisor: Yeah. I mean, it’s really to focus on the Bs, and we haven’t publicly announced any sort of share buyback. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. We have announced a share buyback. I apologize. Yes. I mean, we’ll be using it for both so that we’ll pay back the Bs. I think we’ve said in the script that we’ll aggressively look to buy back the common. We’ll be using it ultimately for both.

Timothy Degasino, Analyst, B. Riley Securities: Okay. Great. Thank you so much.

Conference Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Christopher Nolan with Ladenburg Thalmann. Please proceed with your question.

Christopher Nolan, Analyst, Ladenburg Thalmann: Hi. Thanks for taking my questions. On page 22, you have the largest industry concentration is software and technology. How much of that might be AI or data center related, please?

Dan Ko, Senior Principal and Portfolio Manager, Eagle Point Income Company Advisor: Not a ton, to be honest. Most of this is kind of enterprise software. It is kind of software that’s really embedded in a lot of companies’ operations. It is stickier credits. It is harder for companies to pull out the software that they’re using on a daily basis because just the cost of replacing, meaning both just the actual cost, but also just the time and effort that goes into replacing the software is very costly. It has been generally one of the higher industry concentrations within the loan market and has generally performed well over the past several cycles.

Christopher Nolan, Analyst, Ladenburg Thalmann: Great. As a follow-up, just following up to the most recent question talking about investing in the BBs, when you’re looking at deals to invest in, is there particular industries that you’re looking to get more exposure on, or does each CLO seem to have a broad-based industry composition?

Dan Ko, Senior Principal and Portfolio Manager, Eagle Point Income Company Advisor: Yeah. I mean, most CLOs have very similar industry concentrations to the loan market in that CLO managers are generally buying kind of what the market has put before them. You might see a little bit of tweaks here and there, and maybe a certain manager decides not to buy any kind of oil and gas names because they’ve been burned in the past. It’s kind of hard to avoid some of the higher technology and healthcare. Those are typically the two highest concentrations within the loan market. Most people are not materially kind of off-index, if you will.

Christopher Nolan, Analyst, Ladenburg Thalmann: Great. Thank you.

Dan Ko, Senior Principal and Portfolio Manager, Eagle Point Income Company Advisor: Thanks for your questions.

Conference Operator: Thank you. We have reached the end of the question and answer session. Therefore, I’ll now turn the call back over to Thomas Majewski for closing comments.

Eric Zuick, Analyst, Lucid Capital Markets: Great. Thank you very much, everyone. We appreciate your interest in Eagle Point Income Company. We’ll continue to work very hard for shareholders. The biggest thing, continuing to aggressively buy back our stock using the buyback program. Good to get the call of the preferred at the highest rate. We’ll get that done this year and continue to optimize the company’s balance sheet and continue to look for the best investments for the company. We appreciate your time and effort and time and interest, and we appreciate joining us today. Thank you very much.

Conference Operator: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today’s conference, and you may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

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