Ventas, Inc.

Thank you for standing by. My name is Amy and I will be your conference operator for today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Ventas first quarter 2025 earnings call. All participants have been placed in listen-only mode. After the speaker's remarks, we will conduct a question and answer session. And if you would like to join the queue to ask a question, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to BJ Grant. Senior Vice President of Investor Relations. Please begin.

Thank you, Amy, and good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Ventas first quarter 2025 results conference call. Yesterday, we issued our first quarter 2025 earnings release, presentation materials, and supplemental information package, which are available on the Ventas website at ir.ventasrete.com. As a reminder, remarks today may include forward-looking statements and other matters. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, and a variety of topics may cause actual results that differ materially from those contemplated in such statements. 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 VENTOS website. 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 supplemental information package posted on the Investor Relations website. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Deborah Acuffaro, Chairman and CEO of Ventas.

Thank you, BJ. I'd also like to welcome all of our shareholders and other participants to the Ventas first quarter 2025 earnings call. Today, we'll highlight our positive financial performance and growth, our increasing investment activity, and our advantage position capitalizing on the multi-year NOI growth opportunity in senior housing. As we execute on our 1-2-3 strategy, the value proposition for Ventas remains clear. We are focused on delivering superior multi-year growth fueled by internal and external expansion in our senior housing business, which is benefiting from secular, demographically driven demand and catalyzed by our Advantage platform. We expect to be a top grower in the REIT space, projecting 7% normalized FFO per share growth 2025. We possess an excellent financial profile that is improving, and we offer a 3% dividend yield that contributes to total return. Our strong first quarter results highlight our strengths, and our favorable relative positioning across the broader real estate and corporate landscape. Ventas delivered 84 cents of normalized FFO per share in the first quarter, an increase of approximately 8%, powered by our senior housing operating portfolio. SHOP's 14% year-over-year cash same-store NOI growth resulted from meaningful increases in occupancy and rates. Compelling demand-supply fundamentals have combined with our operational and portfolio initiatives to create an unprecedented extended opportunity for us to generate multi-year organic NOI growth. Demand remains strong as the over 80 population is experiencing its highest ever growth and more residents and their families are choosing senior living for the benefits it provides. The over 80 population is increasing by about half a million people this year and again next year, and that number jumps to 900,000 a year between 2027 and 2030. Meanwhile, on the supply side, the number of new senior housing units started in the first quarter of 2025 was the lowest on record at only 1,287 units. Current supply constraints, likely extended because of hard cost increases and labor scarcity, coupled with this step function in senior population growth, create strong and long tailwinds for NOI and occupancy growth in senior housing. And our senior housing portfolio is positioned to capitalize on this unprecedented opportunity. Our communities are located in markets that exhibit over 1,000 basis points of expected net absorption in the coming years and resident affordability is outstanding. We also continue to increase our participation in this multi-year NOI growth opportunity by executing on our acquisition strategy focused on senior housing. Our investment momentum has continued into 2025 and we see compelling opportunities ahead. We have already closed most of our original billion dollar investment guidance in attractive senior housing communities. And we are now increasing our full year volume expectations to a billion and a half dollars. These investments should enhance our future enterprise growth profile and our value for shareholders. Even more encouraging, our pipeline is expanding as more sellers bring assets to market our skilled investment team has grown, and we continue to leverage our data, financial, and relationship advantages to capture attractive opportunities. Within senior housing, we are eager to deploy capital whenever we believe we can achieve compelling risk-adjusted returns and create value. The balance of our portfolio, led by our Lillibridge-managed outpatient medical business, continues to perform well. Outpatient medical delivered solid compounding growth and continues to benefit from outsized increases in the over 65 age group, ongoing trends favoring lower cost care delivery settings, and our competitively advantaged Lilla Bridge property management and leasing business. Finally, we are delivering on our commitment to financial strength and flexibility. Year to date, we've accelerated our progress on our credit profile, improving both our leverage and our liquidity. At this early stage of the year, we are pleased to reaffirm our normalized FFO per share guidance of 7% growth and confirm our expectations that our shop business will represent over half of our NOI by year end. While acknowledging that the current macroeconomic backdrop presents a high degree of uncertainty, when you step back, Ventus occupies an enviable position in today's environment. Both sides of the senior housing demand supply imbalance are tipped in our favor, and those conditions should improve materially over an extended time horizon. We have the potential to continue to increase shop revenue from both rate and occupancy growth. Our business model has limited impacts from tariffs and global trade. We have access to attractively priced capital, possess excellent liquidity and a strong balance sheet, and we are well positioned as a preferred acquirer who will get more than our fair share of attractive investments. Coupled with our experience and platform, we're in an excellent position to outperform And as we've said, the whole Ventas team is in it to win it. Justin, I'm happy to turn the call over to you.