Billion Dollar Valuation for Walker & Dunlop
Congrats to CEO Willy Walker and crew, whose firm Walker & Dunlop reached a one billion dollar market cap last week for the first time. That's a more than a fourfold increase since going public in 2010. Of course, the figure may bob above and below now depending on the trading day, but what spiked it was the firm's earning call Nov. 4 detailing a great Q3, during which it originated $4.1B in loans and closed $825M in investment sales.
The earnings call itself originated from the LA offices of the former Johnson Capital, which W&D acquired last year. That was symbolic, Willy said, because that transaction had doubled W&D's capital markets group. He also pointed out that the Beach Boys music used as listeners were placed on hold before the call started was also appropriate, because it reflected the themes of "catching the commercial real estate financing wave and the good vibration our financial performance is sending out."
