Ladder Capital (LADR): Analyzing Current Valuation Following Recent Slight Increase in Share Price
Current Valuation and Performance: Ladder Capital's share price has seen a slight increase, with a fair value estimated at $12.83, suggesting it may be undervalued compared to its last close of $10.68.
Long-term Growth Potential: The company has improved its cost of debt through credit upgrades and bond issuances, which could enhance long-term earnings growth and net margins.
Valuation Risks: Despite the optimistic outlook, Ladder Capital's higher price-to-earnings ratio compared to peers raises concerns about potential valuation risks if growth falters.
Investment Considerations: Investors are encouraged to assess both the rewards and risks associated with Ladder Capital, as well as explore other investment opportunities that align with their strategies.
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- Dividend Overview: Ladder Capital has announced a total dividend payment of $0.690 per share for its 2025 Class A common stock, with qualified dividends amounting to $0.651, indicating the company's robust cash flow and commitment to shareholder returns.
- Tax Treatment Details: The dividend payments for 2025 will be categorized into ordinary dividends and capital gains, with ordinary dividends set at $0.230 per share, reflecting the company's ongoing commitment to transparency and shareholder value.
- Company Background: Since its inception in 2008, Ladder has deployed over $49 billion in capital, focusing on commercial real estate financing in the middle market, showcasing its strong position and demand in the industry.
- Management and Shareholder Structure: Ladder is internally managed by a seasoned team, with over 11% insider ownership ensuring alignment of interests between management and all stakeholders, thereby enhancing corporate governance effectiveness.

- Rating Upgrade: S&P Global Ratings upgraded Ladder Capital's subsidiary issuers and unsecured notes from 'BB' to 'BB+', reflecting the company's improved leverage profile and strong business diversification, which is expected to enhance investor confidence and attract more capital inflow.
- Strong Liquidity: The company maintains ample liquidity and a largely unsecured capital structure, allowing it to remain stable amid market fluctuations and effectively respond to potential risks while seizing market opportunities.
- Investment Grade Status: Ladder Capital became the only investment grade-rated mortgage REIT in 2025, receiving Baa3 and BBB- ratings from Moody's and Fitch, respectively, further solidifying its leading position in the industry.
- Management Strength: The company is led by an experienced management team with a strong internal management model that ensures alignment of interests with all stakeholders, enhancing its competitiveness and execution capabilities in the capital markets.
- Rating Upgrade: S&P Global Ratings upgraded Ladder Capital's rating from 'BB' to 'BB+', reflecting the company's improved leverage profile and strong business diversification, which is expected to enhance its market competitiveness.
- Liquidity Advantage: The company boasts ample liquidity and a largely unsecured capital structure, enabling it to effectively manage risks and maintain stable operations in uncertain market conditions.
- Investment Grade Status: Ladder Capital is the only investment-grade-rated mortgage REIT, receiving Baa3 and BBB- ratings from Moody's and Fitch respectively, indicating its unique position and financial robustness in the industry.
- Management Strength: Led by an experienced management team, the internally managed structure and over 11% insider ownership ensure alignment of interests between management and shareholders, further boosting investor confidence.
Stock Performance Overview: Ladder Capital's stock has seen modest gains recently, with a 3.8% increase over the past week and 5.9% over the past month, but remains only 1.6% up year-to-date and 4.0% over the last year, despite significant long-term growth.
Valuation Concerns: The company scores 0 out of 6 on undervaluation checks, indicating it may be overvalued by approximately 20.3% based on the Excess Returns model, which suggests projected earnings do not cover the required return for investors.
Price-to-Earnings Analysis: Ladder Capital's current price-to-earnings (PE) ratio of 18.10x is above industry averages, suggesting the market may be pricing in more growth potential than the fundamentals support, as the fair PE ratio is estimated at 10.83x.
Narratives for Valuation: The article introduces the concept of "Narratives" as a tool for investors to articulate their assumptions about a company's future performance and compare it to current share prices, allowing for a more personalized valuation approach.
- Dividend Declaration: Ladder Capital announced a cash dividend of $0.23 per share payable on January 15, 2026, to shareholders of record as of December 31, 2025, reflecting the company's ongoing commitment to shareholder returns.
- Capital Deployment: Since its inception in 2008, Ladder has deployed over $49 billion across the real estate capital stack, focusing on the middle market, showcasing its robust position in commercial real estate financing.
- Investment Ratings: Ladder maintains a conservative capital structure, achieving investment-grade credit ratings of Baa3 from Moody's and BBB- from Fitch, providing a stable foundation for future financing.
- Management Team: The company is led by an experienced management team with deep industry expertise, and its internally managed structure ensures alignment of interests between management and shareholders, enhancing investor confidence.
Dividend Declaration: Ladder Capital (LADR) has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.23 per share, maintaining the same amount as previous quarters, with a forward yield of 8.09%.
Payment Details: The dividend is payable on January 15 to shareholders of record as of December 31, with the ex-dividend date also set for December 31.
Loan Originations: Ladder Capital anticipates that its loan originations for Q4 will exceed $511 million, focusing on multifamily and industrial assets.
Earnings Performance: The company reported a Q3 earnings beat, attributed to growth in loan originations.








