Apartment developer Post Properties boosts earnings guidance on strong 2Q
Post Properties, Inc. ($50.07 -0.01%) reported second-quarter net income of $20.2 million, 37 cents a share, up from $8.8 million, or 17 cents a share, for the same quarter last year.
Funds from operations, a key measurement for real estate investment trusts, were $39.7 million, 73 cents a share, up from $27.7 million, or 55 cents a share in the year-ago period. On average, analysts polled by Thomson Financial Network had estimated FFO earnings of 57 cents a share.
FFO and net income both include income $900,000, 2 cents a share, relating to a construction litigation settlement and a technology sale gain of $400,000, a cent a share.
"We are very pleased to deliver another strong quarter of nearly 30% growth in per share core funds from operations," said Dave Stockert, Post's CEO. "We sustained a solid pace of year-over-year and sequential growth in revenues from our apartment communities, and achieved an outsized number of condominium closings."
As a result of the earnings, the company adjusted earnings guidance for the full year. It previously expected an FFO between $2.26 and $2.38, including condos and core, and now expect an FFO between $2.50 and $2.60.
Average occupancy at the company's 50 same-store communities, or those open at least a year, was 96.1%, up from 95.1% in 2Q 2011.
Total revenue for the same-store communities increased 7.8% while total operating expenses rose 3.9%, resulting in a 10.4% increase in same-store net operating income. The average monthly rental rate per unit jumped 6.5% to $1,341 per unit during the second quarter over the year-ago figure.
In July, the company will add another community to its portfolio, and Stockert said Post is "off to a good start leasing up our first new development delivery of this current cycle."
During the quarter, the company closed 26 condo units at its Austin, Texas, and Atlanta condo projects for total revenue of $22.9 million. As of July 27, the company had closed 164 units at the two projects and had 24 under contract.
The company saw net gains in FFO of $8.5 million, or 16 cents a share, from condo sales activities during the quarter, up from $5.4 million, or 11 cents a share, during the same time last year.
The company has 1,810 units in six apartment communities and almost 37,567 square feet of retail space under development or in lease-up, at a total estimated cost of $300.4 million.
It expects to fund future estimated construction expenditures largely by using available borrowings under its unsecured bank credit facilities and with proceeds from its on going condo sales as well as its at-the-market common equity sales program.
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