Public Storage

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Public Storage first quarter of 2020 earnings call. At this time, all participants have been placed in a listen-only mode, and the floor will be open for your questions following the presentation. If you have a question at that time, please press star 1 on your touchtone phone. If you wish to remove yourself from the queue, please press the pound key. It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to Ryan Burke, Vice President of Investor Relations. Brian, you may begin.

Thank you, Erica. Good day, everyone. Thank you for joining us for our first quarter 2020 earnings call. I'm here on the line with Joe Russell and Tom Boyle. Before we begin, we want to remind you that all statements other than statements of historical fact, including on this call, are forward-looking statements that are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected by the statements. These risks and other factors could adversely affect our business and future results that are described in yesterday's earnings release and in our reports filed with the SEC. All forward-looking statements speak only as of today, May 1, 2020. We assume no obligation to update or revise any of the statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. A reconciliation to GAAP of the non-GAAP financial measures we provide on this call is included in the earnings release. You can find our press release, SEC reports, and an audio replay of this conference call on our website, publicstorage.com. As usual, we do ask that you keep your questions limited to two initially. Of course, after that, please feel free to jump back and queue if you have additional questions. With that, I'll turn it over to Joe.

Thank you, Ryan, and thank you for joining us. We wish the best for all of you listening in today. particularly those that have been personally impacted by the pandemic. I want to begin by thanking our employees, customers, and business partners for their extraordinary efforts and flexibility as we adapt to this environment. Our focus is simple. Safety is the top priority in everything we do, protecting our employees and customers. We are operating our entire 2500 plus portfolio in all markets as we are an essential business. The need for self storage even in disruptive times like these is yet again being validated. In that regard, our priorities beyond safety include servicing new and existing customers as our communities navigate through these challenging times. To do so, we are supporting our frontline employees in several ways to optimize customer service. Protocols are in place that reinforce social distancing, keeping properties clean, and offering customers multiple avenues to rent or access their space in a contact-less way. At the start of the pandemic, we also established the PS Cares Fund, which provides child care coverage, extended paid time off, and additional hourly compensation to our entire team of property managers. I can't overstate how valuable their commitment to public storage has been and will continue to be as they serve our 1.5 million customers. As public storage approaches its 50th year, we have clearly weathered significant economic cycles, and this one will likely rank as one of the most extreme. We have a proven playbook to maneuver through severe economic and natural disasters, Our teams are battle tested, our product is resilient, and we have intentionally crafted a fortress balance sheet to not only survive, but thrive in times like these. At its core, the full public storage team is well equipped to not only face whatever challenges arise in the near term, but confidently we will find new ways of applying our unique strength and fortitude to find opportunities. Now I will hand the call over to the operator for questions.