Ocwen Breaks Record for Revenue in First Quarter

""Ocwen Financial Corporation"":http://www.ocwen.com/ experienced a surge in net income for the first quarter, which more than doubled over a year, and reported record revenue.

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In Q1 2013, Ocwen's net income jumped to $45.1 million, or $0.31 per share, up from $19.3 million, or $0.14 per share, a year ago.

Revenue for the Atlanta-based company also surged 147 percent year-over-year to $406.7 million in Q1 2013, while income from operations increased 108 percent to $163.1 million during the same time period.

""The Company's string of record quarterly revenues will continue into the second quarter as we benefit from a full quarter of ResCap revenue and our recent acquisition of Ally Bank's mortgage servicing rights,"" said Bill Erbey, Ocwen's chairman.

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""Ocwen's core earnings and cash-flow were strong in the first quarter, and we should see these trend higher as a percentage of revenue as we drive down costs and delinquencies on newly acquired business. Ocwen's lower funding costs and improving pre-pay speeds on non-prime loans should also support better performance versus our original expectations,"" he added.

This year, Ocwen has seen several of its acquisitions come to completion. In February, the Residential Capital, LLC acquisition added $269 billion of unpaid principal balance to the company's servicing portfolio.

In April, Ocwen closed deals with Ally Bank for $63.4 billion of Fannie Mae mortgage servicing rights (MSRs) and another $21.2 billion of Freddie Mac MSRs.

In the same month, Ocwen ""completed"":https://themreport.com/articles/ocwen-completes-purchase-of-nations-biggest-reverse-mortgage-lender-2013-04-04 the purchase of Genworth Financial Home Equity Access, which was the number one reverse mortgage originator based on January 2013 industry data. The reverse mortgage business will be renamed Liberty Home Equity Solutions.

In late 2012, Ocwen also purchased Homeward Residential, a Dallas-based servicer and originator. Ocwen reported Homeward's lending operation originated about $2.4 billion of fundings with another $0.4 billion originated through partnerships, while total Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) volume reached $415 million.

In the first quarter, the company completed 24,184 loan modifications, of which 34 percent were through the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP).