Cousins Properties’ CUZ second-quarter 2024 funds from operations (FFO) per share of 68 cents beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 66 cents.The figure remained unchanged on a year-over-year basis.
Results reflect decent leasing activity and better-than-anticipated revenues. However, rental property operating and interest expenses increased year over year.CUZ also raised its 2024 outlook for FFO per share.
Rental property revenues rose 3.7% year over year to $211.5 million and beat Zacks Consensus Estimate of $208.4 million. Total revenues grew 4.2% year over year to $213 million.
As per Cousins Properties’ president & CEO, Colin Connolly, “We had another solid quarter, driven by improving office fundamentals in our Sun Belt markets.” The CEO also pointed out that “Demand for highly-amenitized lifestyle office space continues to accelerate while supply has contracted. As the market begins to re-balance, we are deploying capital into compelling and accretive investment opportunities."
Quarter in Detail
Cousins Properties executed leases for 391,000 square feet of office space in the second quarter, including 240,000 square feet of new and expansion leases, representing 61% of total leasing activity.
Same-property rental property revenues on a cash basis rose 4.6% year over year to $192.3 million, while same-property rental property operating expenses on a cash basis grew 3.9% to $68.3 million in the second quarter of 2024. As a result, the same-property net operating income on a cash basis climbed 5.1% to $124 million from the prior-year period.
The weighted average occupancy of the same-property portfolio was 88.5%, up 100 basis points from a year ago.
CUZ ended the quarter with the same-property portfolio being leased 91.2%, up from 90.7% at the end of the year-ago period.
The second-generation net rent per square foot (cash basis) climbed 18.2%.
Rental property operating expenses grew 5.3% to $70.6 million.
Interest expenses jumped 14.5% to $29.7 million year over year.
Balance Sheet
CUZ exited the second quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $5.95 million, up from $5.5 million as of Mar 31, 2024.
The company’s net debt-to-annualized EBITDAre ratio in the quarter was 5.12 compared with 5.25 in the prior quarter.
2024 Outlook Raised
Cousins Properties raised its guidance for 2024 FFO per share to the range of $2.63-$2.68 from the $2.60-$2.67 range projected earlier. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the same is presently pegged at $2.65, which is within expectations.
The increase in FFO is mainly due to improving leasing activity, higher parking income and the recent acquisition of two mezzanine loans.
CUZ currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Cousins Properties Incorporated Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Cousins Properties Incorporated price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Cousins Properties Incorporated Quote
Upcoming Earnings Releases
We now look forward to the earnings releases of other REITs like SBA Communications SBAC and Stag Industrial STAG, slated to report on Jul 29 and Jul 30, respectively.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for SBA Communications’ second-quarter 2024 FFO per share stands at $3.28, indicating a 1.2% rise year over year. SBAC currently has a Zacks Rank #3.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Stag Industrial’s second-quarter 2024 FFO per share is pegged at 59 cents, implying a 5.4% year-over-year increase. STAG currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Note: Anything related to earnings presented in this write-up represents funds from operations (FFO), a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs.
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