Stock Review Report: Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE: ESS)

Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE: ESS) closed the trading at a price of $245.64 with the positive/negative change of +0.61 percent. In the past session approximately 345,199 shares were exchanged against the average daily trading volume of 375,176 shares. The stock market capitalization has now valued at $16.783B.

Essex Property Trust, Inc. (ESS) reported recently its second quarter 2018 earnings results and related business activities.

Net Income and Funds from Operations (“FFO”) per diluted share for the quarter ended June 30, 2018 are detailed below. Core FFO excludes acquisition and investment related costs and certain non-routine items.

Second Quarter 2018 Highlights:

• Stated Net Income per diluted share for the second quarter of 2018 of $1.52, contrast to $1.08 in the second quarter of 2017, primarily Because of gains realized on a property sale in the second quarter of 2018.
• Grew Core FFO per diluted share by 5.7% contrast to the second quarter of 2017, exceeding the high-end of the guidance range.
• Achieved same-property gross revenue and net operating income (“NOI”) growth of 2.8% and 3.0%, respectively, contrast to the second quarter of 2017.
• Realized a sequential quarterly raise in same-property revenue growth of 0.4%.
• Raised the midpoint of guidance for same-property revenue and NOI growth for the full-year by 15 bps each to 2.8% and 2.9%, respectively.
• Revised full-year Net Income per diluted share guidance range to $5.15 to $5.31. Provided Net Income guidance range for the third quarter of $1.09 to $1.18 per diluted share.
• Revised full-year Total FFO per diluted share guidance range to $12.72 to $12.88, raising the midpoint by $0.09 per share. Provided Total FFO guidance range for the third quarter of $3.06 to $3.15 per diluted share.
• Raised full-year Core FFO per diluted share guidance by $0.07 per share at the midpoint to a range of $12.44 to $12.62. Provided Core FFO guidance range for the third quarter of $3.07 to $3.17 per diluted share.

“We are happy to report another great quarter, with results exceeding expectations across our West Coast footprint. Improving economic conditions continued to drive housing demand throughout the 2018 prime leasing season, driven by job growth and personal income growth that were well ahead of national averages. Based on the strength of our second quarter results, we are increasing our 2018 guidance with respect to same-property revenue, NOI and Core FFO growth,” commented Michael Schall, President and CEO of the Company.

DISPOSITIONS

In June 2018, the Company sold Domain for a total contract price of $132.0M. The community, which is located in San Diego, CA, contains 379 apartment homes. Total gain on the sale was $22.2M, which has been excluded from the calculation of FFO.

DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY

Station Park Green – Phase I reached stabilized operations in June 2018. The community is located in San Mateo, CA and comprises 121 apartment homes. As of July 30, 2018, Station Park Green – Phase I was 99.2% leased.

LIQUIDITY AND BALANCE SHEET

Ordinary Stock

The Company did not issue any shares of ordinary stock through its equity distribution program in the second quarter of 2018.

The Company did not repurchase any shares of ordinary stock in the second quarter of 2018.

Balance Sheet

In June 2018, Fitch Ratings affirmed the Company’s senior unsecured debt atB+ and revised the rating outlook from stable to positive.

As of July 30, 2018, the Company had $1.2B in undrawn capacity on its unsecured credit facilities.

ESS has price-to-cash ratio of 101.29 and price to sale ratio of 11.76. The company net profit margin is 27.00 percent and gross profit margin is 71.40 percent. A look on the firm performance, its monthly performance is 0.11 percent and a quarterly performance of 6.96 percent.