Fundamentals snapshot
NMIH · NGM · Financial Services · Insurance - Specialty
Current price
$42.88
52-week range
$34.84 - $46.74
Market cap
$3.23B
One-glance verdict
We don't put a cash-flow fair value on banks and insurers. For these companies the reported 'cash flow' is really just money moving between loans, deposits and trades — not the leftover profit the owners could actually pocket — so the usual method would print a misleading number.
Balance sheet
Net debt $264.88M. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
What this company does
NMI Holdings is an insurance company for the housing market that sells private mortgage insurance. Lenders require this insurance when homebuyers make a small down payment, as it protects the lender if the borrower can't make their loan payments. The company makes its money from insurance premiums (the regular payments customers make for coverage), so its business success is closely tied to the health of the real estate market.
NMI Holdings was founded in 2011, in the aftermath of the major housing crisis of 2008. The founders saw an opportunity to create a new private mortgage insurance company built on a more cautious and stable model. The company grew organically, meaning it built its business from the ground up rather than buying other companies. It became a publicly traded company in 2013, allowing the public to buy shares of its stock.
NMI Holdings sells a special type of insurance called private mortgage insurance, or PMI. When someone buys a home with a small down payment (typically less than 20% of the home's price), the bank or lender sees that as a higher risk. To protect themselves in case the homeowner can't make their payments, the lender requires PMI. NMI Holdings is the company that provides this insurance directly to the lenders, not the individual homebuyer, helping more people qualify for a home loan.
This is the company's single and primary line of business. NMI makes money by charging fees, known as premiums, for the insurance policies it provides to mortgage lenders like banks and credit unions. These lenders are the company's customers, and they serve a wide variety across the United States. This one business line is responsible for nearly all of the company's revenue (the total money it brings in before any expenses are paid).
The company's main strategy is to grow its business carefully by focusing on insuring high-quality loans rather than just increasing the total number of loans it insures. They are focused on expanding their insurance-in-force (the total value of mortgages they are currently insuring), which provides a steady stream of premium income. Management also uses reinsurance (insurance for insurance companies) to protect NMI from large unexpected losses. Additionally, the company sometimes uses share buybacks (when a company buys its own stock from the open market) to return value to its investors.
Price history
Earnings history
Click any quarter to read the call summary and what the numbers say.
Is it cheap or expensive?
For a bank or insurer, the "free cash flow" shown on its statements is mostly money flowing through loans, deposits and trades — not the leftover profit the owners could actually keep, which is what this kind of valuation needs. Running that through the usual method would spit out a meaningless number, so we leave the cash-flow fair value out here rather than show you something misleading.
Is it drowning in debt?
Net debt $264.9M. Interest coverage 18.6x.
NMI Holdings, Inc.'s profit covers its interest bill about 18.6 times over. which is stronger than most peers shown here.
Total debt $426.15M Interest coverage 18.55x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $1.34B Interest coverage 12.67x -32% vs NMIH Carries about 1.5x less debt cushion than NMIH.
Total debt $646.87M Interest coverage 27.08x +46% vs NMIH Carries about 1.5x more debt cushion than NMIH.
Total debt $495.97M Interest coverage 26.14x +41% vs NMIH Carries about 1.4x more debt cushion than NMIH.
Total debt $745.23M Interest coverage 18.19x -2% vs NMIH Has roughly the same debt cushion as NMIH.
Total debt $4.29B Interest coverage 34.64x +87% vs NMIH Carries about 1.9x more debt cushion than NMIH.
What you should know
The numbers
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Valuation
Profitability
Health
Growth
Cash flow
Dividend
Metric explainer
Debt comparison
What you should know