Senior housing REIT Ventas climbs after Q2 FFO beat

Welltower

02/08/2024 18:15

** Shares of Ventas  VTR.N  up 2.2% at $56.53 amid a sea of
red on Fri after senior housing REIT posts modest Q2 FFO beat
    ** VTR rises as much as 3.3% to $57.11, highest since late
May 2022
    ** Stock could be benefiting from plunge in yields on Fri
after soft jobs data
    ** Ventas late Thurs posted normalized FFO of 80 cents/sh vs
LSEG estimate of 79 cents/sh as same-store net operating income
(NOI) in senior housing operating portfolio rose 15.2% yr/yr
    ** In flash research note, Baird said co's NOI growth was
200 bps above its estimate led by strong U.S. growth of 16.3%
    ** Baird has "neutral" rating on VTR and $51 PT
    ** Ventas boosted lower end of 2024 FFO guidance by 2 cents
to $3.10-$3.18
    ** 14 of 20 analysts covering VTR rate stock "strong buy" or
"buy", rest recommend "hold" and their median PT is $55 - LSEG
    ** With move on the session, VTR up ~13% YTD, outperforming
S&P 500 Real Estate sector's  .SPLRCR  4% advance
    ** Earlier this week, peer Welltower  WELL.N  raised its
annual FFO forecast, betting on steady senior housing demand
    ** WELL up fractionally on Fri

 (Lance Tupper is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed
are his own)
 ((lance.tupper@thomsonreuters.com
lance.tupper@tr.com 1-646-279-6380))