Stock price when the opinion was issued
A mortgage REIT. They leverage the slope of the yield curve, to invest in mortgages. Rising rates are not necessarily a good thing for them. It really all revolves around their ability to leverage the spread in the yield curve. There is also some reinvestment risk. If existing pools of mortgages are maturing at higher rates than what you can invest in, that impairs profitability.
It is a mortgage REIT making money by borrowing on the short end of the curve and lending on the long end. The portfolio is much larger than the capital they have to play with, so there is volatility. If rates go up next year it creates refinancing risk for them. He is not comfortable with the leverage in the portfolio.
With this, you are borrowing on the short end of the curve and lending on the long end, so it is very much a spread business. You are using a lot of leverage when you do that. The rule of thumb is that you typically want to buy them when they are trading at a discount to BV. He doesn’t own any of these, because there is a significant risk if interest rates move up too quickly. There is reinvestment risk and prepayment risks. However, for the most part the dividends are safe and you are getting a good entry point.