Mortgage insurance provider NMI Holdings (NASDAQ: NMIH) met Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q1 CY2026, with sales up 5.9% year on year to $183.5 million. Its non-GAAP profit of $1.28 per share was 3.9% above analysts’ consensus estimates.

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Adam Pollitzer, President and Chief Executive Officer of National MI, said, “In the first quarter, we again delivered strong operating performance, consistent growth in our high-quality insured portfolio, and standout financial results. We have a strong customer franchise, a talented team driving us forward every day, an exceptionally high-quality book covered by a comprehensive set of risk transfer solutions, and a robust balance sheet supported by the significant earnings power of our platform. Looking forward, we’re well positioned to continue delivering differentiated growth, returns and value for our shareholders.”

Company Overview

Founded in the aftermath of the 2008 housing crisis to bring new capacity to the mortgage insurance market, NMI Holdings (NASDAQ: NMIH) provides mortgage insurance that protects lenders against losses when homebuyers default on their mortgage loans.

Revenue Growth

Insurance companies generate revenue three ways. The first is the core insurance business itself, represented in the income statement as premiums earned. The second source is investment income from investing the “float” (premiums collected but not yet paid out as claims) in assets such as fixed-income assets and equities. The third is fees from policy administration, annuities, and other value-added services. Thankfully, NMI Holdings’s 10.2% annualized revenue growth over the last five years was solid. Its growth beat the average insurance company and shows its offerings resonate with customers, a helpful starting point for our analysis.

Long-term growth is the most important, but within financials, a half-decade historical view may miss recent interest rate changes and market returns. NMI Holdings’s annualized revenue growth of 9.4% over the last two years aligns with its five-year trend, suggesting its demand was predictably strong.

This quarter, NMI Holdings grew its revenue by 5.9% year on year, and its $183.5 million of revenue was in line with Wall Street’s estimates.

Net premiums earned made up 87.8% of the company’s total revenue during the last five years, meaning NMI Holdings barely relies on non-insurance activities to drive its overall growth.

While insurers generate revenue from multiple sources, investors view net premiums earned as the cornerstone - its direct link to core operations stands in sharp contrast to the unpredictability of investment returns and fees.

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Book Value Per Share (BVPS)

Insurance companies are balance sheet businesses, collecting premiums upfront and paying out claims over time. The float – premiums collected but not yet paid out – are invested, creating an asset base supported by a liability structure. Book value captures this dynamic by measuring:

• Assets (investment portfolio, cash, reinsurance recoverables) - liabilities (claim reserves, debt, future policy benefits)

BVPS is essentially the residual value for shareholders.

We therefore consider BVPS very important to track for insurers and a metric that sheds light on business quality because it reflects long-term capital growth and is harder to manipulate than more commonly-used metrics like EPS.

NMI Holdings’s BVPS grew at an incredible 17.1% annual clip over the last five years. BVPS growth has also accelerated recently, growing by 20.2% annually over the last two years from $24.56 to $35.46 per share.

Key Takeaways from NMI Holdings’s Q1 Results

We struggled to find many positives in these results. Overall, this was a weaker quarter. The stock remained flat at $38.68 immediately after reporting.

Big picture, is NMI Holdings a buy here and now? If you’re making that decision, you should consider the bigger picture of valuation, business qualities, as well as the latest earnings. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).