A Sleeping Giant: Opportunity in Fannie Mae

The Interview ·
Featuring Whitney Tilson and Gabriella Heffesse

Published on: June 17th, 2020 • Duration: 38 minutes

We are now more than a decade past the GFC, and Fannie Mae is finally exiting conservatorship – a legal concept where a guardian oversees the finances of an individual or company. Whitney Tilson, founder and CEO of Empire Financial Research, and Gabriella Heffesse, chief operating officer of ACG Analytics, take a deep-dive into Fannie Mae, the mortgage giant that securitizes just under half of all mortgages in the United States. They analyze the investment opportunity Fannie Mae presents, comparing the junior preferred shares to the common tier equity, and the different risk/reward proposition each level of the capital stack offers. Tilson and Heffesse review the history of Fannie Mae, from its being placed into conservatorship to the "net worth sweep" to the ongoing attempts to implement a "recap and release" plan. In addition, this serves as a timely case study on the multi-year playbook for government bailouts and conservatorship for national champion companies that could once again show up in Washington with outstretched hands and empty pockets. Filmed on June 10, 2020.