Extra Space Storage Inc

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the fourth quarter, 2019, Extra Space Storage Incorporated Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 1 on your telephone. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. If you require any further assistance, please press star zero. I would now like to hand the conference over to yours today, Vice President of Investor Relations, Jeff Norman. Sir, please go ahead.

Thank you, Lateef. Welcome to Extra Space Storage's fourth quarter in year-end 2019 earnings call. In addition to our press release, we have furnished unaudited supplemental financial information on our website. Please remember that management's prepared remarks and answers to your questions may contain forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. Actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied by our forward-looking statements due to risks and uncertainties associated with the company's business. These forward-looking statements are qualified by the cautionary statements contained in the company's latest filings with the SEC, which we encourage our listeners to review. Forward-looking statements represent management's estimates as of today, February 19, 2020. The company assumes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements because of changing market conditions or other circumstances after the date of this conference call. I would now like to turn the call over to Joe Marboas, Chief Executive Officer.

Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us for our 2019 fourth quarter and year-end call, and thank you for your interest in extra space storage. We delivered solid results in 2019 despite significant competition from new supply and for external growth. Our same-store occupancy ended the year at 92.4 percent, the highest year-end mark since 2015. Our same-store revenue increased 3.5 percent NOI increased 2.9 percent, and core FFO growth per share increased 4.5 percent, demonstrating the durability of our diversified portfolio and the prowess of our platform and team. We had impressive external growth, acquiring 47 stores with an additional 177 stores added to our third-party management platform. The majority of these stores were new to the platform, meaning we brought a new property into the system every 1.3 business days on average. We also found other innovative ways to enhance our external growth, including redevelopment, a net lease transaction with WP Carry, a preferred equity investment with SmartStop, and the launch of a new bridge loan program. All of these efforts helped Extra Space invest approximately $650 million at attractive risk-adjusted returns. The fourth quarter not only marks the end of another solid year, but an incredible decade of performance. Over that time, we grew our store count by more than 1,000 stores, an increase of 137%. We developed proprietary technology that helped us optimize performance and consistently outperform our peers. We delevered our balance sheet and achieved a triple B stable rating from S&P. Most importantly, extra space storage provided the highest 10-year return to shareholders of any publicly traded REIT and the 11th highest of all companies in the S&P 500, regardless of sector. We are proud of the growth we experienced over the past 10 years and the value it created for our shareholders. We appreciate the support of our investors, lenders, and partners who contributed to our growth and success over the past decade. We also acknowledge the vital contributions, hard work, and dedication of over 4,000 employees who made such performance possible. The culture and values of this team led us to be named as top 100 best place to work by Glassdoor out of over one million companies. While we are proud of our accomplishments and while we believe it is important to celebrate our past successes, we are even more focused on the future. Most of the headwinds faced in 2019 will continue to be present in 2020. The supply cycle we find ourselves in will continue to dampen performance, but it is moderating and will reverse. But even while in the depths of this cycle, we are in an incredible business, marked by high occupancies, increasing customer demand, longer average lengths of stay, use by all age demographics, no real disruptor on the horizon, and an increasing advantage of the large operators over the mom and pops. the stable and increasing cash flows we have all enjoyed continue to be a hallmark of self-storage. We are committed to leveraging our experience, our technological sophistication, and our diversified portfolio to continue to provide solid returns in 2020 and in the decade ahead of us. I would now like to turn the time over to Scott.