Ladder Capital Posts Strong Q3 With $44.7 Million in Distributable Earnings and 50%-Plus Loan Growth

Ladder Capital Corp (NYSE: LADR) reported third-quarter 2026 distributable earnings of $44.7 million, or $0.35 per share, a result boosted by a $31 million gain on the sale of its Jacksonville, Florida net-lease office campus, which was exited at an 18% IRR and generated a $66 million GAAP gain. Undepreciated book value per share rose to $13.50 from $13.44, and the company repurchased $8.2 million of stock during the quarter while maintaining its $0.23 quarterly dividend.

Ladder deployed $703 million of new capital in Q3, including $481 million of predominantly AAA-rated securities and seven new balance-sheet loans totaling $222 million. Its securities portfolio reached $2.3 billion, representing 37% of total assets at a weighted average yield of 5.5%, with 99% investment-grade and 97% AAA-rated. Balance-sheet loan originations totaled $1.4 billion year to date, matching full-year 2025 volume, and the loan portfolio expanded more than 50% over the trailing twelve months.

The company's $900 million real estate segment, which includes 148 net-lease properties leased primarily to investment-grade tenants, generated stable net operating income. Ladder ended the quarter with 2.5 times adjusted leverage, $784 million of liquidity, and 69% unsecured debt, and management said its floating-rate asset book and fixed-rate liabilities position the company well in a higher-for-longer rate environment.

Separately, analysts at Seeking Alpha turned constructive on the iShares Global REIT ETF (NYSEARCA: REET), arguing that a prolonged underperformance versus the S&P 500 has created relative value in global real estate equities. REET carries approximately 30% exposure to non-US markets and tracks the FTSE EPRA Nareit Global REITs Index, with net assets of roughly $4.94 billion and a yield of around 3.38%.