Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE: ACRE) reported Q1 EPS of $0.40, $0.03 better than the analyst estimate of $0.37.

“Our first quarter results mark a strong start to 2021, with significant growth in earnings versus the same period in 2020, and Distributable Earnings well in excess of the regular and supplemental dividends,” said Bryan Donohoe, Chief Executive Officer of ACRE. “Our strong earnings and our accretive equity offering drove another quarter of growth in our book value per share. Our larger equity base enables us to further scale our business and execute on our building pipeline of high quality opportunities in an attractive market. Our future outlook for 2021 remains promising and we continue to believe that our Distributable Earnings will meet or exceed our dividends for the year, including the supplemental dividends.”

“We continue to strengthen our balance sheet by raising accretive forms of capital and further diversifying our sources of financing, resulting in a greater equity base, lower overall leverage and increased non-recourse term financing compared to the first quarter of 2020,” said Tae-Sik Yoon, Chief Financial Officer of ACRE. “Supported by improving real estate market fundamentals, our portfolio continues to perform well with no new loans on non-accrual status and 100% of contractual interest payments collected during the first quarter.”

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Ares Commercial Real Estate (ACRE) click here.