Out Fox The $treet

With yet another dividend cut , American Capital Agency ( AGNC ) actually did something surprising. The stock didn't hit new lows, and in fact it ended higher two days later. As a fundamental investor, over time the learning curve has led to more focus on how stocks handle bad news. The fascinating situation with American Capital Agency has been the extreme weakness of the stock over the last year. With the drop from over $35 to below $20, the recent trading suggests the dividend cuts might finally be built into the stock. American Capital Agency is a mortgage real estate investment trust, or mREIT, that focuses on investing in a levered portfolio of agency backed mortgage securities. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No position mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

As the market for mortgage real estate investment trusts (mREITs) has lost some steam over the last couple of weeks, the investor day for Two Harbors Investment Corp (TWO) provided an ideal time to review the prospects for this company. The company acquires, owns and manages a portfolio of Agency and non-Agency residential mortgage-backed securities and related investments. The investment approach focuses on security selection and the relative value of various sectors within the mortgage market. Two Harbors currently has a total residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) portfolio of over $15B, providing for a significant hybrid mREIT that now has substantially reduced the expense ratio to 0.8%. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long NLY. Please review the disclaimer for more details.