Ventas, Inc.

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 VINTA's first quarter 2026 earnings call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's 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 1. I will now like to turn the call over to B.J. Grant, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations. You may begin.

Thank you, Bailey. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Ventos 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 Ventos website at ir.ventosread.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 to 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. 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 supplemental information package posted on the Investor Relations website. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Deborah A. Cafaro, Chairman and CEO of Ventas.

Thank you, BJ, and good morning to all of our shareholders and other participants. I want to welcome you to the Ventas First Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. Ventas continues to drive growth and outperformance as a leading participant in the longevity economy. We're already into our fifth consecutive year of double-digit annual growth in our senior housing operating portfolio, or SHOP. Even more exciting, this year represents a new and positive inflection point when demographic demand jumps and growth remains elevated for over a decade. Our business and team have been built to meet this moment and seize the unprecedented opportunity for multi-year growth and value creation. With shop as our engine, Ventas is now a $56 billion S&P 500 company with a portfolio of over 1,400 properties, serving a large and growing aging population. We have developed a unique brand that stands for delivering for stakeholders and winning together. Our excellent first quarter results and improved full-year outlook demonstrate our competitive advantages, the impact of our differentiated platform, strong execution of our 1-2-3 strategy, and our momentum. In the quarter, Ventas delivered 9% year-over-year growth in total same-store property NOI and normalized FFO per share. Shop NOI grew over 15% and U.S. occupancy increased 370 basis points, fueled by broad-based demand and our Ventas OI initiatives. Accretion from senior housing investment activity further contributed to our growth in the quarter, showing our strategy in action. And notably, our liquidity reached record levels and our financial position continued to strengthen. Based on our first quarter results and our confidence, we have improved our outlook for the full year, increasing our midpoint guidance for FFO per share by $0.03 to $3.86 per share, led by shop same-store growth of 16%. As a result of our strategy and execution, we have already grown senior housing to over 60% of our business, and our communities now serve nearly 100,000 residents. In a large and highly fragmented sector where most operators run 10 or fewer communities, our platform gives us unique advantages to drive out performance at scale through data and experiential insights. With our collaborative approach, Ventas OI also attracts many experienced operators who want to manage our communities and benefit from Ventas' aligned approach, people, and platform. And we're just getting started. In the investment market for SHOP, we have an outstanding private to public arbitrage opportunity. We have already closed $1.7 billion of attractive senior housing investments this year. and over $6 billion since the beginning of 2024. Our number one capital allocation priority remains U.S. shop communities that meet our strategic framework and can deliver unlevered IRRs in the double-digit to mid-teens range at pricing below replacement costs. Interestingly, because there is significant existing and new investor interest in senior housing for all the obvious reasons, We are seeing more owners and potential sellers bringing assets to market and engaging in conversations with us about transacting. This trend is expanding our pipeline significantly. We are confident in our ability to capture more than our fair share of desirable deals because of our momentum in the market and our competitive moat. We have now increased our 2026 investment volume guidance to $3 billion. We are focused on increasing our shop business organically and externally to drive our forward enterprise growth rate and serve the nearly 70 million baby boomers who start turning 80 in 2026. In the next five years alone, this group will grow nearly 30%. Yet, in the first quarter, senior housing construction starts totaled only about 1,500 new units and total senior housing communities under construction remained at historic lows. With at least a three year start to finish development cycle, these favorable demand supply trends provide our advantage platform with compelling and durable tailwinds. The Ventas team is unified and enthusiastic about outperforming at scale and the multi-year growth and value creation opportunity ahead. We are excited about our improved outlook for 2026 and the setup for the coming years as we pursue our mission to help people live longer, healthier, and happier lives. With our unique brand standing for commitment to each other and our stakeholders, we are in it to win it together. In closing, I want to recognize our admired colleague, Pete Bolgarelli. Pete is retiring after an extraordinary four-decade career in commercial real estate and eight years leading our Omar business with excellence and integrity. On behalf of all of us at Ventas, I thank Pete and wish him every continued success and happiness. With that, I'm pleased to turn the call over to Justin.