After a two-week delay, Capital Senior Living reports fourth quarter results, and a little of first quarter.
After delaying its fourth quarter earnings release by two weeks, Capital Senior Living finally produced the results. And they were not as bad as we expected. Phew. To be honest, I was thinking it could be so bad that bankruptcy would be floated as an option. Not this quarter.
The bottom line is that the fourth quarter was not good, with same-community year-over-year occupancy declining by 290 basis points to 81.4%, and the operating margin falling by 600 basis points to 29%. Both are very large drops in a 12-month time frame. And both are worse than their peer group.
The good news is that January’s net operating income was $250,000 higher than December’s, and February’s increased by another $1.0 million. Cost management, stable occupancy, and improved staff retention all contributed. The stock price even nudged up a bit, to 60 cents a share. All was on track until mid-March. That seems to be the common thread. The reality is that any statistics or trends prior to mid-March are basically useless. We are in a new world that is still evolving, and most predictions are fiction because no one really knows.
But, Capital Senior Living will live to see another day. They just may not like what that day looks like.
