


LTC Properties Reports
LTC Properties reported fourth quarter and full year 2022 earnings, and other than the large new joint venture (previously announced), the big news was that tenant Anthem repaid $1.5 million of temporary rent reduction and paid $900,000 of monthly rent in the fourth quarter. As a result, Anthem has now paid the full rent for 2022, which is a bit of a relief. The REIT is still not out of the woods as other tenants are still recovering slowly, but at least they can see through to the clearing. However, coverage ratios still need to increase. Assisted living EBITDARM and EBITDAR coverage was 1.02x and 0.80x, respectively, in the third quarter (lease information lags by a quarter), but was... Read More »
Welltower’s SHOP Communities Perform
Following fourth quarter earnings from Ventas, Welltower also posted solid gains in its SHOP portfolio, both sequentially and year over year. On a same-community basis, Welltower’s 654 communities posted a 20-basis point sequential increase in occupancy and a 200-basis point increase year-over-year to 79.1%. Now, while we are sure management would like to see the final year-end numbers higher, and getting over 80% (if not 85%) is crucial, the slowdown in the fourth quarter does not bode well for the first quarter this year. At least this year’s flu season has not been as bad as previously forecast by the media. The same-community net operating income increased 6.3% sequentially, but at a... Read More »
Ensign Shines Bright, Again And Again
Oops, they did it again. Late last week, The Ensign Group reported its fourth quarter and full-year earnings for 2022, and the company continues to outshine its competitors. While we realize the entire senior care business is on the rebound from the depths of the pandemic, some like Ensign seem to be beating the odds. The company achieved record operating results for the fourth quarter and for the full year, and it has had eight consecutive quarters of occupancy increases. Same-facility occupancy was at 77.8% in the fourth quarter, not far behind its pre-COVID level of 80.1%. To their credit, they do take over a lot of nursing homes with underperforming operations and relatively low... Read More »