Mortgage real estate investment trusts recorded mixed results in the third quarter, while specialty finance companies and mortgage banks and brokers generally posted weaker earnings than in the quarter before.

Specialty finance firm FirstCash Inc. and mortgage REITs Ladder Capital Corp. and KKR Real Estate Finance Trust recorded sequential and year-over-year improvements in the quarter.

FirstCash stood out positively among specialty finance companies, recording third-quarter EPS of 82 cents, compared to 70 cents for the previous quarter and 36 cents for the year-ago period. Ladder Capital posted EPS of 15 cents in the third quarter, compared to 8 cents in the second quarter and 14 cents a year earlier. KKR Real Estate Finance recorded EPS of 57 cents, compared to 52 cents in the previous quarter and 56 cents in the year-ago period.

Several companies posted both year-over-year and sequential declines, including mortgage REITs Blackstone Mortgage Trust Inc. and Redwood Trust Inc. and specialty finance firms Navient Corp., World Acceptance Corp. and Sallie Mae.

Sallie Mae saw the greatest losses of the group, reporting GAAP EPS of 24 cents in the most recent quarter, compared to 44 cents in the second quarter and 45 cents in the third quarter of 2020.

Various mortgage REITs — including Annaly Capital Management Inc., ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc., Dynex Capital Inc. and AGNC Investment Corp. — saw quarterly gains but year-over-year losses.

Among mortgage banks and brokers, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Mr. Cooper Group Inc. all posted quarterly results that were worse than the most recent quarter's.