{"data":{"id":"sw_b4e6af41bb6fc0278de0","slug":"adamas-trust-s-28x-leverage-ratio-surfaces-after-new-york-mortgage-trust-rebrand","title":"Adamas Trust's 28x Leverage Ratio Surfaces After New York Mortgage Trust Rebrand","subheadline":"The renamed mortgage REIT pairs a 13.2% dividend yield with a 28.01x net-debt/EBITDA figure that requires sector-specific context to interpret.","summary":"Adamas Trust, formerly New York Mortgage Trust, shows a 28.01x net-debt/EBITDA ratio and 13.2% yield post-rebrand. The figures highlight how leverage metrics differ for mortgage REITs financed through repo markets versus equity REITs.","body":"Adamas Trust, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADAM), the company formerly known as New York Mortgage Trust before a September 2025 rebrand, is showing a net-debt/EBITDA ratio of 28.01x alongside a 13.20% dividend yield, according to figures drawn from its Q1 2026 earnings release filed April 29, 2026. The leverage figure first stood out in data tracked on REIT Research, a Madison Labs research site, which compiles balance-sheet and payout metrics across publicly traded REITs.\n\nThe headline number reflects a balance sheet carrying $11.00 billion in total debt against $12.64 billion in total assets and $1.43 billion in total equity, putting debt at 88.51% of book capital. Enterprise value stands at $11.92 billion versus a market capitalization of $817.01 million: a gap that itself illustrates how much of the company's capital structure is financed with borrowed money rather than shareholder equity. Earnings available for distribution, the metric mortgage REITs typically report in place of funds from operations, came in at $0.29 per share for the first quarter of 2026. The company does not report FFO, which the site notes is common practice among mortgage REITs.\n\nWhat the ratio means depends heavily on context that doesn't always travel with a single number. Mortgage REITs like Adamas Trust generate income from the spread between what they earn on residential and commercial mortgage assets (including agency and non-agency RMBS, business-purpose loans, and preferred equity or mezzanine positions in multifamily properties), and what they pay to finance those holdings, typically through short-term repurchase agreements. That financing structure means mortgage REITs routinely carry debt loads that would look alarming on an equity REIT's balance sheet, where leverage is more commonly tied to owned, rent-generating property. Sector practice generally analyzes book value per share and net interest margin for mortgage REITs rather than the debt/EBITDA multiples used for equity REITs, since a large share of that debt funds highly liquid, often government-backed securities rather than illiquid real estate.\n\nWhy the figure may still matter to investors comes down to how leverage interacts with distributions. Adamas Trust's payout ratio, measured against operating cash flow, sits at 81.92%, and the dividend yield of 13.20% is well above what equity REITs typically offer, a common feature of the mortgage-REIT category given its narrower spread-based earnings model and sensitivity to interest-rate and prepayment risk. A high yield paired with a highly levered balance sheet is a combination that has drawn recurring attention from financial media covering the mortgage-REIT sector broadly. Zacks Investment Research published a piece in September titled \"2 mREIT Stocks to Invest in Despite Challenging Industry Trends,\" and a separate Zacks item earlier in September flagged \"Implied Volatility Surging for Adamas Trust Stock Options,\" both signaling that options and equity markets have been pricing in elevated uncertainty around the name following its rebrand.\n\nBackground on the rename adds another layer. New York Mortgage Trust, founded in 2003 and based in New York, converted to the Adamas Trust name in September 2025 while retaining its core business: acquiring and financing residential and multifamily mortgage assets, including single-family rental properties, agency and non-agency RMBS, and CMBS. The company continues to operate as a REIT for federal tax purposes, requiring it to distribute at least 90% of taxable income to shareholders to maintain that status. In August 2026, the company announced, via a GlobeNewsWire release, the pricing of a public offering of senior notes: a capital-raising move that adds to the debt side of the ledger being scrutinized alongside the leverage ratio.\n\nThe broader market backdrop offers little direct read-through to mortgage REIT fundamentals, but rate-sensitive sectors remain a focus for investors navigating a mixed macro environment. Large-cap technology names including Analog Devices, Cisco Systems, IBM, and Texas Instruments posted notable single-day gains, while major cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin and Ethereum traded lower, underscoring a market environment where risk appetite is shifting unevenly across asset classes. For mortgage REITs specifically, financing costs and prepayment behavior tied to the broader rate environment remain the central variables analysts watch, independent of any single company's balance sheet.\n\nLooking ahead, market participants tracking Adamas Trust are likely to focus on how the newly priced senior notes offering affects the debt-to-capital mix reported in coming quarters, whether the 81.92% payout ratio proves sustainable if operating cash flow softens, and how the stock's options market, already flagged by Zacks for elevated implied volatility, continues to price uncertainty following the name change. The company's next earnings disclosure is expected to update the net-debt/EBITDA figure along with EAD per share, giving investors a fresh data point against which to measure whether leverage metrics are stabilizing, rising, or falling as Adamas Trust settles into its new identity.","source":{"name":"REIT Research","slug":"reit-research"},"category":"REITs","article_type":"News","license":"Free to republish, in full or in part, with attribution to SourceWire and a link to the original article. No fees, registration, or permission required.","quality_score":85,"human_reviewed":false,"original_url":"https://reinvestmenttrust.com/reits/ADAM","featured_image":null,"published_at":"2026-09-13T11:31:18.748147+00:00","updated_at":"2026-09-13T11:31:18.748147+00:00","is_demo":false,"attribution":"Via SourceWire. Discovered via REIT Research.","attribution_html":"Via SourceWire. Discovered via REIT Research."},"meta":{"demo_data":false}}