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The following are today's upgrades for Validea's Small-Cap Growth Investor model based on the published strategy of Motley Fool. This strategy looks for small cap growth stocks with solid fundamentals and strong price performance.

LADDER CAPITAL CORP (LADR) is a small-cap value stock in the Misc. Financial Services industry. The rating according to our strategy based on Motley Fool changed from 45% to 72% based on the firm’s underlying fundamentals and the stock’s valuation. A score of 80% or above typically indicates that the strategy has some interest in the stock and a score above 90% typically indicates strong interest.

Company Description: Ladder Capital Corp is a commercial real estate investment trust. The Company's segments include loans, securities, and real estate. The loans segment includes mortgage loan receivables held for investment (balance sheet loans) and mortgage loan receivables held for sale (conduit loans). The securities segment is composed of all of the Company's activities related to commercial real estate securities, which include investments in commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS), United States Agency Securities, corporate bonds and equity securities. The real estate segment includes net leased properties, office buildings, student housing portfolios, hotels, industrial buildings, a shopping center and condominium units. Corporate/other includes the Company's investments in joint ventures, other asset management activities and operating expenses. It invests primarily in senior first mortgage fixed and floating rate loans collateralized by commercial real estate with flexible loan structures.

The following table summarizes whether the stock meets each of this strategy's tests. Not all criteria in the below table receive equal weighting or are independent, but the table provides a brief overview of the strong and weak points of the security in the context of the strategy's criteria.

Detailed Analysis of LADDER CAPITAL CORP

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About Validea: Validea is aninvestment researchservice that follows the published strategies of investment legends. Validea offers both stock analysis and model portfolios based on gurus who have outperformed the market over the long-term, including Warren Buffett, Benjamin Graham, Peter Lynch and Martin Zweig. For more information about Validea, click here

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