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The call conveyed a strongly positive operational and financial momentum driven by SHOP: double-digit SHOP NOI growth, meaningful occupancy and rate improvements, margin expansion, raised FFO guidance, robust liquidity, and an active, relationship-driven acquisition pipeline (including the $540M Revel value-add acquisition). Risks noted were manageable: Q1 weather-related operating expense pressure, several lease-up assets (including Revel) that need execution, increased transaction competition with cap-rate compression, and dependence on the May–September selling season to sustain full-year targets. On balance, highlights substantially outweighed the lowlights as management increased guidance, strengthened the balance sheet, and articulated a scalable operating platform and pipeline.
Ventas raised its 2026 outlook, increasing normalized FFO per share guidance to a range of $3.82–$3.89 (midpoint $3.86, up $0.03 from prior) — a bridge driven by stronger organic SHOP performance and accretive senior housing investments (+$0.04) partly offset by ~$0.01 from a higher forward interest rate curve — and now expects total company same‑store cash NOI growth of nearly 10% at the midpoint (driven by SHOP same‑store NOI guidance of 16% at the midpoint, up from 15%). Management is modeling SHOP revenue growth of ~8.75% and roughly 300 bps of SHOP occupancy improvement for the year (Q1 SHOP same‑store NOI was >15%; total company same‑store property NOI grew ~9% y/y; Q1 normalized FFO was $0.94), with Q1 same‑store average occupancy at 90.4% (U.S. same‑store occupancy +370 bps) and RevPOR +5% y/y (in‑house rate increases ~8%). Operating metrics in Q1 included NOI margin expansion of 170 bps to 30% and a 50% incremental margin; operating expenses were up 5.8% in Q1 with a full‑year OpEx guide of ~5.5%. On capital, Ventas increased 2026 investment guidance to $3.0 billion (from $2.5B), has closed $1.7B year‑to‑date, expects many deals to yield low‑ to mid‑teens unlevered IRRs (ex‑Revel year‑one NOI yield ~6.9%; reported all‑in around ~6.5% including Revel), and finished Q1 with ~$5.5B of liquidity, net debt/EBITDA ~5.0x (20 bps sequential improvement) and roughly $2.4B of equity raised/designated for 2026 (including $800M settled and $1.6B forward).
Senior housing operating portfolio (SHOP) same-store NOI increased over 15% year-over-year in Q1, marking the fifth consecutive year of double-digit annual SHOP NOI growth and prompting an increase in SHOP same-store growth guidance to 16% at the midpoint (from 15%).
Same-store average occupancy rose 310 basis points year-over-year to 90.4% overall; U.S. same-store occupancy increased 370 basis points year-over-year and outperformed the NIC top 99 markets by 150 basis points.
RevPOR increased 5% year-over-year, supported by in-house rate increases running nearly 8%; company now expects full-year revenue growth of ~8.75% for SHOP driven by occupancy and pricing.
NOI margins expanded 170 basis points year-over-year to 30%, with incremental margins at ~50%, demonstrating meaningful operating leverage as occupancy and RevPOR improved.
Normalized FFO was $0.94 per share in Q1 (up 9% year-over-year). Company raised 2026 normalized FFO guidance by $0.03 to a midpoint of $3.86 per share (range $3.82–$3.89) driven by stronger SHOP performance and accretive senior housing investments.
Year-to-date closed senior housing acquisitions totaled $1.7 billion; Ventas increased 2026 senior housing investment guidance from $2.5 billion to $3.0 billion. Since 2024, management reported roughly $5.7–$6.0 billion of senior housing investments adding ~17,000 units.
Completed $540 million acquisition of the Revel luxury independent living portfolio (average in-place occupancy mid-70s) purchased below replacement cost, with the seller retaining a 25% interest to align incentives and share upside through Ventas OI initiatives.
Liquidity of $5.5 billion at quarter end; net debt to EBITDA improved to 5.0x (20 bps sequential improvement). Raised approximately $2.4 billion of equity for 2026 investments (including $800M settled and $1.6B via forward equity sales).
Ventas OI platform and expanded SHOP team are driving active asset management (price-volume optimization, refresh CapEx, sales execution, boots-on-the-ground) and supporting off-market, relationship-driven sourcing (90% relationship-driven, 60% off-market, 40% repeat sellers YTD).
Thank you for standing by. My name is Bailey, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Ventas, Inc. First Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, again, press star and one.
I will now like to turn the call over to Bill Grant, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations. You may begin.
Thank you, Bailey. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Ventas, Inc. First Quarter 2026 Results Conference Call. Yesterday, we issued our first quarter 2026 earnings release, presentation materials, and supplemental information package, which are available on the Ventas, Inc. website at ir.ventasreit.com. As a reminder, remarks today may include forward-looking statements and other matters. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties contemplated in such statements. A variety of factors may cause actual results to differ materially from those.
For a more detailed discussion of those factors, please refer to our earnings release for this quarter and to our most recent SEC filings, all of which are available on the Ventas, Inc. website. Certain non-GAAP financial measures will also be discussed on this call, and for a reconciliation of these measures to the most closely comparable GAAP measures, please refer to our ...