CoreCivic (NYSE: CXW) reported Q4 EPS of $0.36, versus $0.40 reported last year. Revenue for the quarter came in at $497.81 million versus the consensus estimate of $490.29 million.

Highlights of Full Year 2019

• Total revenue of $1.98 billion, an increase of 8%
  • CoreCivic Safety revenue of $1.78 billion, an increase of 6%
  • CoreCivic Community revenue of $123.3 million, an increase of 21%
  • CoreCivic Properties revenue of $77.3 million, an increase of 34%
• Net income of $188.9 million, an increase of 19%
• Adjusted net income of $204.8 million, an increase of 19%
• Diluted EPS of $1.59, an increase of 19%
• Adjusted diluted EPS of $1.72, an increase of 19%
• Normalized FFO per diluted share of $2.62, an increase of 13%
• Adjusted EBITDA of $443.9 million, an increase of 12%

Damon T. Hininger, CoreCivic's President and Chief Executive Officer, said, “Throughout the year we had many achievements, including strong full year financial performance and growth across each of our business segments. We also expanded our commitment to, and investment in, innovative recidivism-reducing programming, publicly advocated for the removal of barriers that create challenges for individuals reentering society, and issued the Company’s first ESG report.

“While we experienced positive growth trends for the full year 2019, our fourth quarter included lower utilization by Immigration and Customs Enforcement than we forecasted. Our initial guidance for 2020 does not assume ICE utilization will return to the elevated levels experienced in 2019, when the agency and the country faced a humanitarian crisis. However, we believe our efforts to diversify the Company’s business, including through M&A activity and new state contracts, will mitigate the normalization of ICE utilization.”

GUIDANCE:

CoreCivic sees Q1 2020 EPS of $0.23-$0.27.

CoreCivic sees FY2020 EPS of $1.34-$1.43.

Our 2020 guidance reflects lower utilization from ICE at many of our facilities compared with 2019, when southwest border apprehensions had reached the highest levels in over a decade. Our 2020 guidance also reflects higher interest expense associated with the aforementioned financing transactions.

During 2020, we expect to invest approximately $86.5 million to $92.0 million in capital expenditures, consisting of approximately $21.0 million to $23.0 million in prison construction, primarily associated with the construction of our Lansing Correctional Facility in Lansing, Kansas, which was completed in January 2020; approximately $30.5 million to $31.0 million in maintenance capital expenditures on real estate assets; $28.5 million to $30.5 million for capital expenditures on other assets and information technology and $6.5 million to $7.5 million for tenant improvements and leasing commissions. These estimates exclude M&A activity.

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