Radian Group (NYSE:RDN) executives highlighted what they described as another strong quarter and year, while outlining a strategic shift that will broaden the company beyond its core U.S. mortgage insurance franchise. On the company’s fourth-quarter 2025 earnings call, management emphasized continued growth in insurance in force, favorable credit performance, significant capital generation and returns to shareholders, and the recently completed acquisition of specialty insurer Inigo.
Quarterly and full-year results
Radian reported net income from continuing operations of $159 million, or $1.15 per share, for the fourth quarter. For the full year 2025, net income from continuing operations was $618 million, or $4.39 per share. Interim CFO Dan Kobell said the company grew net income per share in 2025 due to strong earnings and an 8% reduction in share count.
Mortgage insurance growth and portfolio trends
Management said the mortgage insurance business continued to expand, with insurance in force reaching an all-time high. The company’s primary mortgage insurance portfolio grew 3% year over year to $283 billion. New insurance written (NIW) totaled $55 billion in 2025, including $15.9 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with $52 billion for full-year 2024 and $13.2 billion in the prior-year fourth quarter.
Net premiums earned were $237 million in the quarter, which Kobell said was the highest level in more than three years. Persistency remained elevated at 82% in the fourth quarter, down slightly from the prior quarter due to increased refinance activity. About half of insurance in force had mortgage rates of 5.5% or lower, which management said should support continued strong persistency given prevailing market rates.
Radian’s in-force premium yield was 38 basis points, which the company characterized as stable, and Kobell said the company expects the yield to remain “generally stable” in 2026 given persistency and the industry pricing environment.
In response to analyst questions on pricing and returns, CEO Rick Thornberry said the industry pricing environment has been “relatively stable” and “a normal competitive environment.” He added that Radian focuses on economic value rather than market share and said more than 80% of current NIW is sourced through the company’s “Radian Rates” platform, which he described as a “black box pricing” approach leveraging proprietary data and analytics.
Credit performance and loss provisioning
Radian discussed positive credit trends and reserve development during the quarter. New defaults were approximately 14,200 in the fourth quarter, and total defaults rose seasonally to roughly 25,000 loans at quarter end, resulting in a 2.56% portfolio default rate.
Kobell said new defaults continue to show “significant embedded equity,” which has supported higher cure rates and reduced severity where claims are ultimately submitted. The company maintained its initial default-to-claim assumption of 7.5% on new defaults, which produced $57 million of loss provision for new defaults in the quarter. Favorable reserve development on prior-period defaults contributed $35 million of positive development in the fourth quarter, resulting in a net provision expense of $22 million.
On the Q&A, management said cure trends have been consistently favorable relative to initial expectations. Kobell noted that the company’s reserving assumes a 92.5% cumulative cure rate and said management is not seeing “pockets of concern” by geography, credit segment, or vintage, while acknowledging it is still early in seeing more recent vintages enter the default inventory in significant numbers.
Capital actions, Inigo acquisition, and strategic shift
Management positioned the acquisition of Inigo as a “transformative” milestone that moves Radian toward becoming a “global multi-line specialty insurer.” Thornberry said the transaction was funded entirely with available liquidity and excess capital, with no new equity issued, and that Inigo will operate as a standalone business unit in London while retaining its management team, brand, and culture.
Kobell provided additional detail on the purchase and funding. Radian ended 2025 with holding company liquidity of $1.8 billion, supported by a $195 million dividend and a $600 million intercompany note from Radian Guaranty, and drew $200 million on its revolving credit facility in January. The company paid a purchase price at closing, net of certain adjustments, of $1.67 billion. Inigo’s estimated tangible equity at year-end was $1.16 billion, implying a net purchase price multiple of approximately 1.4x tangible equity. Following the acquisition, holding company liquidity was about $350 million.
In response to questions about expected financial impact, Kobell said there were “no changes” to the company’s prior view of the deal’s accretion. He framed the economics by comparing the prior yield on the capital used (about 4% to 5%) versus an expected mid-teens return through the cycle for Inigo, which he said implies roughly $170 million of incremental net income, characterized as pre-tax. Kobell added that applying a “call it 25% statutory tax rate in the U.K.” would equate to more than 200 basis points of ROE accretion. Management said it did not rely on expense or revenue synergies to support the transaction.
On purchase accounting, Kobell said there will be intangibles—some likely amortizing—but the company had not yet finalized the split between goodwill and intangibles and expects to provide those details with first-quarter reporting.
Separately, Radian said its plan to divest its mortgage, conduit, title, and real estate services businesses remains on track for completion by the end of the third quarter. The company extracted $62 million of capital from entities held for sale in the fourth quarter, reducing the net carrying value of those businesses to $110 million at year-end.
Radian Guaranty distributed $795 million to the holding company in 2025, and the company returned $576 million to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. Radian repurchased 13.5 million shares for $430 million during 2025. Kobell said the company expects dividends of at least $600 million from Radian Guaranty to Radian Group in 2026, including a $140 million dividend later in the first quarter, and expects those dividends to allow repayment of the $200 million revolver draw during 2026 while maintaining liquidity. Thornberry said the company expects to resume “opportunistic” share repurchases, citing his view that the shares are undervalued.
Radian’s leverage ratio declined to 18.3% at year-end, and Kobell said the company expects it to remain below 20% by year-end 2026. The company also highlighted capital strength at the mortgage insurer, including a $1.6 billion PMIERs cushion at year-end and a fourth-quarter excess-of-loss reinsurance agreement covering about $373 million on certain policies written from 2016 through 2021.
About Radian Group (NYSE:RDN)
Radian Group Inc (NYSE:RDN) is a leading provider of private mortgage insurance and related risk management solutions in the United States. Through its primary subsidiary, Radian Guaranty Inc, the company underwrites borrower-paid and lender-paid mortgage insurance that protects lenders and investors from potential losses arising from borrower defaults. Radian’s core business focuses on supporting residential mortgage originations and servicing by offering capital-efficient credit protection and credit risk transfer strategies.
Beyond mortgage insurance, Radian offers an array of real estate transaction services under its Radian Title division.
