The San Diego-based company experienced an overall net loss of $39.1 million in 2023, a notable dip from the $328.6 million net profit reported in 2022. A higher interest rate environment and tight housing inventory contributed to Guild's results, company representatives said. 

Despite a rocky origination climate, the mortgage lender finished off 2023 with four acquisitions under its belt, which the company hopes will allow it "to create meaningful value for stockholders over time."

"We continue to grow our market share," said Terry Schmidt, Guild's CEO, during the company's earnings call Tuesday. "We prioritize being integrated members of the communities we serve and the foundation of our approach is our relationship based loan sourcing strategy in being able to provide our customers with innovative products that serve their needs."

"While we anticipate the current headwinds will continue much of 2024, we are encouraged by our market share growth, and disciplined approach should deliver results when sentiment improved, and the rate environment eases," she added.

The company's net revenue for the fourth quarter was $93.1 million, down from $257.3 million the prior quarter. At years end, Guild's revenue was $700 million, a notable dip from the $1.2 billion reported the year prior, its earnings show.

Origination activity fell in 2023, with the mortgage lender disclosing it originated $15 billion worth of loans, down from the $19.1 billion in 2022. The final three months of the year saw $3.5 billion in originations, while the first two months of 2024 resulted in $2.2 billion worth of originations.

The company's servicing segment incurred a net loss of $72.1 million in the fourth quarter, down from a net income of $84 million the prior quarter, earnings show. Fair value adjustments had a negative impact on the company's MSRs, executives said during the company's earnings call. 

The unpaid principal balance of the lender's servicing portfolio grew by 2% from the prior quarter to $85.0 billion as of Dec. 31, 2023. At year end, Guild's servicing portfolio grew by 8% compared to $78.9 billion a year prior.

"On the servicing side, we're solid, our cash flows are really solid," Schmidt added. "I know we had an impairment this past quarter, but in reality our prepayments continue to go down, so we feel like from the cash flow perspective, the value of servicing is very strong. We feel that  having origination and servicing still works well for us." 

The company head added the number of loan originators at the mortgage shop has ballooned by 34% since November 2022, illustrating "success at growing and retaining our sales team and positioning them to take full advantage of the next cycle in the housing market." 

Since its acquisition of Academy Mortgage, Guild has almost 3,000 sponsored loan officers on board, according to the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System. The integration of Academy loan originators will have a short-term earnings impact, executives forecasted.

Apart from taking on Academy, the lender was on a buying spree last year, acquiring First Centennial Mortgage, reverse mortgage lender Cherry Creek Mortgage and Legacy Mortgage. 

And Schmidt hinted that more M&A activity might be in the company's future.

"There's still some excess capacity in our industry…there's owners that are looking for another home with a company that's a little bit larger," she said. "And same thing with loan originators, they're looking for stability and a company that's growing and investing in their future, so we feel like there's still opportunity out there and our strategy's working."