On January 29, 2026, Wells Fargo reaffirmed its Overweight rating on NLY while maintaining a hold stance, and raised its twelve-month price target from $23 to $25. The firm highlighted Annaly’s resilient earnings trajectory and diversified funding profile as key drivers, noting that the REIT’s agency mortgage portfolio and secured financing operations position it favorably in the current rate environment.

Annaly reported fourth-quarter earnings available for distribution of $0.74 per share, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.72 by 3.25%. This result also marked a modest year-over-year improvement from the prior period’s $0.72, extending a streak of four consecutive quarterly EPS beats. GAAP net income stood at $1.40 per share for the quarter, contributing to full-year GAAP net income of $2.92 per share and driving a 26.1% annualized return on average equity.

The REIT’s fourth-quarter revenue rose to $366.6 million, a 96% increase over the same period last year, yet missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 21.8%. Annaly has not topped consensus revenue projections in the past four quarters. Despite the shortfall, its total portfolio expanded to $104.7 billion, underpinned by a 6% quarter-over-quarter increase in its agency mortgage-backed securities holdings and strong correspondent channel activity in its residential credit business.

At quarter-end, Annaly’s book value per share was $20.21, supported by GAAP leverage of 7.2x and economic leverage of 5.6x. The firm ended the quarter with $9.4 billion of unencumbered assets available for financing and reported an economic return of 8.6%. During Q4, the company deployed $2.9 billion of accretive capital—primarily into higher-coupon Agency pools and CMBS—while achieving a 24 basis-point decline in GAAP funding costs and closing eight residential securitizations totaling $4.6 billion.