Investors Real Estate Trust (IRET) Tops Q1 EPS by 8c, Revenues Beat

Investors Real Estate Trust (NYSE: IRET) reported Q1 EPS of $0.01, $0.08 better than the analyst estimate of ($0.07). Revenue for the quarter came in at $45.95 million versus the consensus estimate of $44.94 million.

"We continued to improve as an organization in the first quarter of fiscal 2019," said Mark O. Decker, Jr., IRET\'s President and CEO. "Same-store NOI grew 2.8% year-over-year, with strong revenue growth in most markets and expense growth in line with our expectations. In addition, our sale of the Williston portfolio in the first quarter enabled us to exit a non-core market and eliminate $30 million of recourse debt. Finally, we made significant changes to our operations in the first quarter, restructuring the leadership team with a focus on achieving operational excellence. We believe that these changes will advance the speed at which we can realize our earnings potential and become the premier provider of apartment homes in our markets."

First Quarter Fiscal Year 2019 Highlights

• Posted same-store NOI growth of 2.8%, our third consecutive quarter of year-over-year NOI growth;
• Increased same-store revenue by 3.0% year-over-year, driven by a 2.4% rental increase and a 0.6% average occupancy increase;
• Experienced an increase in same-store expenses of 3.3% year-over-year, which is in line with expectations but does not reflect the impact of expense reduction initiatives implemented during the quarter;
• Sold seven non-core assets in the quarter for total proceeds of $49.1 million, as described in \"Dispositions\" below;
• Took a charge of $510,000 to general and administrative expenses during the quarter related to the realignment and reduction of corporate officers;
• Implemented operations expense reduction initiatives during the quarter that resulted in a charge to property expenses of $110,000; and
• Subsequent to quarter-end, refinanced our line of credit to increase the overall borrowing capacity from $370 million to $395 million by right-sizing our revolver commitment to $250 million, extending our existing $70 million term loan maturity to January 2024, and adding a new $75 million term loan maturing in August 2025.

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Investors Real Estate Trust (IRET) click here.

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