Stocks · Real Estate · REIT - Mortgage
MFA Financial, Inc. MFA
$7.65 -1.16% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $781.0M
Strong growthInexpensive vs sector
Next earnings report: Nov 5, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Revenue over the last four quarters was $752.0M, up 92.4% from a year earlier, slowing from 153.0% a quarter earlier.
- Operating margin widened to 91.7% from 42.3% a year earlier.
- At 6.4× trailing earnings, the shares trade at the lowest P/E of the company's past five years.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Real Estate sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Top 6%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Top 31%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Top 9%
- Revenue growth accelerationBottom 2%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 39%
- Gross marginTop 11%
- Operating marginTop 3%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Bottom 48%
- Accruals (lower is better)Bottom 25%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 14%
- Interest coverTop 50%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 5%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 5%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueBottom 28%
- Sales / enterprise valueBottom 13%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Top 9%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthBottom 38%
- 6-month returnBottom 18%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Bottom 32%
- Distance from 52-week highBottom 34%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Bottom 22%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersBottom 50%
- Consecutive EPS beatsBottom 48%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 44%
- Upside to consensus price targetTop 22%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 18%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsBottom 43%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 31%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 14%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 153.0% | 92.4% | ↓ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | 9.6% | 38.5% | ↑ |
| Gross margin | 64.5% | 82.2% | ↑ |
| Operating margin | 42.3% | 91.7% | ↑ |
| FCF margin | 31.7% | 33.5% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 92.4% | 153.0% | ↓ | Top 6% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | 38.5% | 9.6% | ↑ | Top 31% |
| Gross margin | 82.2% | 64.5% | ↑ | Top 11% |
| Operating margin | 91.7% | 42.3% | ↑ | Top 3% |
| Net margin | 19.7% | 32.9% | ↓ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 33.5% | 31.7% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 5.0% | — | Top 39% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 1.70×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -0.8%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 0.0%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- -94.8 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 20.75×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 1.3×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 20.76%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 1.15%
- Shareholder yield
- 21.91%
- Share count change, 1 year
- +0.0%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- +1.1%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 5, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 1
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 2 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +1.6%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -2.3%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 4 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $10.75
- Target vs current price
- +40.5%
- Analysts with a rating
- 23
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 43%
- Consensus rating
- Hold
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 5, 2026 | +42.6% | -0.3% | +1.0% | -4.5% | — |
| May 5, 2026 | -3.6% | -6.0% | -5.2% | -6.8% | -9.4% |
| Feb 18, 2026 | +0.5% | +1.6% | +0.0% | +1.4% | -4.0% |
| Nov 6, 2025 | -33.3% | -3.1% | +1.0% | +2.8% | +4.3% |
| Aug 7, 2025 | -14.3% | +1.6% | +6.3% | +12.9% | -2.9% |
| May 6, 2025 | -9.1% | -5.3% | -3.0% | -5.5% | -8.3% |
| Feb 19, 2025 | -2.5% | +0.2% | +2.5% | +6.6% | -7.1% |
| Nov 6, 2024 | -9.8% | -7.2% | -9.6% | -11.0% | -14.4% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 5, 2026 | $0.35 | $0.25 | +42.6% | $58.6M |
| May 5, 2026 | $0.30 | $0.31 | -3.6% | $59.2M |
| Feb 18, 2026 | $0.27 | $0.27 | +0.5% | $55.5M |
| Nov 6, 2025 | $0.20 | $0.30 | -33.3% | $56.8M |
| Aug 7, 2025 | $0.24 | $0.28 | -14.3% | $61.3M |
| May 6, 2025 | $0.29 | $0.32 | -9.1% | $57.5M |
| Feb 19, 2025 | $0.39 | $0.40 | -2.5% | $50.8M |
| Nov 6, 2024 | $0.37 | $0.41 | -9.8% | $90.9M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 6.4× | 11.2× | 0th | Top 5% |
| P/E (forward) | 7.3× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 22.2× | — | — | Bottom 28% |
| EV / Sales | 16.35× | — | — | Bottom 13% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 32.29% | — | — | Top 5% |
| Earnings yield | 15.70% | — | — | Top 5% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 7.2× – 108.4× since Jun 30, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- -17.7%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- +38.5%
- Change in P/E multiple
- -28.8%
Most of the move came from a change in the valuation multiple.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✗ Price above 20-day average
- ✗ Price above 50-day average
- ✗ Price above 200-day average
- ✗ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✗ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 0
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- -4.9%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- -1.1%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -12.6%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -19.3%
- RSI (14)
- 20.3
- Relative volume
- 1.68×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 17.7%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 3th percentile · Low for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.44
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.26
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -26.4%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -41.9%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 24, 2021 | Oct 10, 2022 | -62.8% | 326 days | Not yet recovered |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $781.0M
- P/E (TTM)
- 6.4
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $1.20
- Revenue (TTM)
- $752.0M
- Dividend yield
- 18.82%
- 52-week range
- $7.58 – $10.43
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $488.3M | -$67.6M | $234.0M | $279.6M | $875.2M |
| Gross profit | $418.2M | -$110.5M | $199.9M | $244.3M | $841.8M |
| Operating income | $426.4M | -$224.0M | $69.2M | $637.8M | $690.0M |
| Net income | $328.9M | -$231.6M | $80.2M | $119.3M | $176.8M |
| EPS (diluted) | $2.63 | -$2.57 | $0.46 | $0.82 | $1.68 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $82.4M | $41.7M | $74.8M | $192.0M | $182.5M | $88.1M | $229.4M | $252.0M |
| Net income | $48.2M | $5.9M | $41.2M | $33.2M | $48.1M | $54.3M | -$984,000 | $46.8M |
| EPS (diluted) | $0.37 | -$0.02 | $0.31 | $0.21 | $0.35 | $0.52 | -$0.01 | $0.34 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $120.3M | $366.1M | $108.7M | $200.1M | $76.2M |
| Capital expenditure | -$12.0M | -$300,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Free cash flow | $108.2M | $365.8M | $108.7M | $200.1M | $76.2M |
| Dividends paid | -$156.1M | -$184.0M | -$143.1M | -$143.9M | -$188.5M |
| Net share buybacks | -$83.8M | -$101.1M | -$7,000 | -$1.6M | -$15.3M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $141.2M
- Total assets
- $13.65B
- Total liabilities
- $11.88B
- Total debt
- $11.65B
- Net debt
- $11.51B
- Shareholders’ equity
- $1.78B
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 5, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 5, 2026 | $0.36 | Oct 30, 2026 |
| Jun 30, 2026 | $0.36 | Jul 31, 2026 |
| Mar 31, 2026 | $0.36 | Apr 30, 2026 |
| Dec 31, 2025 | $0.36 | Jan 30, 2026 |
| Sep 30, 2025 | $0.36 | Oct 31, 2025 |
| Jun 30, 2025 | $0.36 | Jul 31, 2025 |
| Mar 31, 2025 | $0.36 | Apr 30, 2025 |
| Dec 31, 2024 | $0.35 | Jan 31, 2025 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 4,930,303
- Days to cover
- 3.23
- Change vs previous report
- +5.8%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Apr 5, 2022
- 1-for-4
- Apr 13, 1998
- 631-for-500