Brookdale Senior Living remains in a rut, and the Chinese option may be disappearing.
For some reason, Brookdale Senior Living has kept out of the news recently, which is a good thing. What’s not so good is that its share price continues to be stuck in a rut. What also is not so good is that with the recent second quarter occupancy numbers out of NIC, we have to assume that given Brookdale’s size, their occupancy levels contributed to the downward trend in occupancy. Also not good.
Everyone continues to wait on news of a buyer for Brookdale to come forward. The Chinese card seems to be disappearing given that the U.S. authorities are scrutinizing Chinese sponsored acquisitions more closely, not to mention what is going on in China itself.
While I have always maintained that Brookdale should be private and sort things out without the constant quarter-to-quarter pressure, I really think selling from a point of weakness does not do shareholders much good, other than those who bought in at the low.
It is operations, sales and marketing that will fix the company, but all we hear is that Brookdale resumes on HR desks at competitors are still as abundant as fireworks on the fourth of July. That is too bad, but there is no easy fix for it either. Whether it is current management, or a new buyer, fixing the problems will be hard, especially with staff looking elsewhere. What they need is time, and that may be running out.
