ENSG - The Ensign Group Reports Second Quarter 2024 Results; Raises Annual Earnings and Revenue Guidance

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Calif., July 25, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Ensign Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: ENSG), the parent company of the Ensign(TM) group of companies, which provide post-acute healthcare services and invest in the long-term healthcare industry, primarily in skilled nursing and senior living facilities, announced operating results for the second quarter of 2024, reporting GAAP diluted earnings per share of $1.22 and adjusted earnings per share ⁽¹⁾ of $1.32, both for the quarter ended June 30, 2024.

Highlights Include:

• GAAP net income was $71.0 million, an increase of 11.0% over the prior year quarter. Adjusted net income ⁽¹⁾ was $76.4 million for the quarter, an increase of 15.3%, over the prior year quarter.

• GAAP diluted earnings per share for the quarter was $1.22, an increase of 8.9% over the prior year quarter. Adjusted diluted earnings per share ⁽¹⁾ was $1.32, an increase of 13.8%, over the prior year quarter.
  

• Same Facilities and Transitioning Facilities occupancy increased by 2.8% and 4.3%, respectively, over the prior year quarter and Same Facilities occupancy was 80.8% for the second quarter of 2024.
  

• Same Facilities and Transitioning Facilities skilled services revenue increased by 6.8% and 6.0%, respectively, over the prior year quarter.
  

• Same Facilities and Transitioning Facilities managed care revenue increased by 12.2% and 36.5%, respectively, over the prior year quarter.
  

• Consolidated GAAP and adjusted revenue for the quarter were $1.04 billion, an increase of 12.5% over the prior year quarter.
  

• Total skilled services ⁽²⁾ revenue was $991.3 million for the quarter, an increase of 12.1% over the prior year quarter. Total skilled services ⁽²⁾ segment income was $122.2 million for the quarter, an increase of 4.4% over the prior year quarter.
  

• Standard Bearer ⁽²⁾ revenue was $23.4 million for the quarter, an increase of 17.3% over the prior year quarter. FFO was $14.5 million for the quarter, an increase of 9.5% over the prior year quarter.
  
  1. See "Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Financial Information".
  2. Our Skilled Services and Standard Bearer Segments are defined and outlined in Note 8 on Form 10-Q.

Operating Results

“We are thrilled to report another record quarter and are excited about the continued momentum our teams have created across our entire portfolio. We are in awe as our local leaders continue to consistently drive outstanding clinical and financial performance as they work together with their cluster partners to practice proven operational principles,” said Barry Port, Ensign’s Chief Executive Officer. “We are very pleased to see growth over the prior year quarter in occupancy and skilled mix days in our same store and transitioning operations, particularly in our managed care population. In addition, our focus on ‘customer second’ continues to ensure that our caregivers and their teams are recognized for their amazing daily achievements, which has resulted in lower turnover for the 11th quarter in a row and a decrease in the use of staffing agencies for the 6th quarter in a row. All of this has occurred while our teams have simultaneously been assisting the newly acquired operations integrate into their local clusters and begin the process of improving clinically and financially,” Port added.

The Company also reported that same store occupancy for the quarter reached 80.8%, which grew by 2.8% over the prior year quarter. In addition, the Company noted that it saw an increase in same store and transitioning skilled services revenue during the quarter of 6.8% and 6.0%, respectively. Mr. Port noted that he expects continued growth in same store occupancies and emphasized the incredible amount of built-in upside as their maturing operations move toward the occupancy levels of dozens of the Company’s most mature same store operations, which are consistently in the 90+ percent occupancy range. He also emphasized that the Company’s consolidated occupancy represents enormous organic growth potential and highlighted the Company’s model of acquiring lower occupancy operations at very attractive prices, which provides a significant long-term ramp with years of upside. “As our operators continue to build on a solid foundation of strong clinical results, cultural excellence, and sustainable real estate expenses, we are confident that they will continue to capitalize on the occupancy and skilled mix growth inherent in our portfolio, which will allow us to consistently achieve the financial results that we have delivered over time,” Port said.

Speaking to the Company’s growth, Chad Keetch, Ensign’s Chief Investment Officer and Executive Vice President said, “As we expected, we continued to add to our growing portfolio and are very excited about the ten new operations and six real estate assets we added during the quarter, bringing the number of operations acquired during the year to 15. We continue to see a very healthy pipeline of new acquisition opportunities and are making progress on several additions that we expect to close in the third and fourth quarters. Our scalable, decentralized growth model is not dependent on a centralized team of experts, but instead is driven by local leadership. In times like these when deal opportunities are abundant, we rely on a proven set of deal criteria that ensure we remain disciplined and grow in a healthy way. One of the foundational elements of our consistent performance has been to insist that the prices we pay will result in a cost structure that allows us to achieve high margins over a long period of time. However, we don’t grow just for the sake of growth or acquire revenue or buy earnings. Accordingly, we will sacrifice short term margins and metrics growth for the long-term built in organic upside. We have and will continue to grow when we see deals that will be accretive to shareholders in both the near- and long-term.”

Mr. Port added, “Due to our solid skilled mix and occupancy growth, as well as continued strength from our recent acquisitions, we are raising and narrowing our annual 2024 earnings guidance to between $5.38 to $5.50 per diluted share, up from $5.29 to $5.47 per diluted share. This new midpoint of our 2024 earnings guidance represents an increase of more than 14% of our 2023 results and is 31% higher than our 2022 results. We are also increasing our annual revenue guidance to between $4.20 billion to $4.22 billion, up from our previous guidance of $4.13 billion to $4.17 billion. We are excited about the upcoming year and are confident that our partners will continue to manage and innovate while balancing the addition of newly acquired operations.”

Speaking to the Company’s financial health, Suzanne Snapper, Ensign’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer reported that the Company’s liquidity remains strong with approximately $477.3 million of cash on hand and $573.1 million of available capacity under its line-of-credit. Ms. Snapper also indicated that, “Management’s annual guidance is based on diluted weighted average common shares outstanding of approximately 58.5 million and a 25.0% tax rate. In addition, the guidance assumes, among other things, normalized health insurance costs and management’s current expectations regarding reimbursement rates. It also excludes certain charges that arise outside of the business, acquisition related costs and share-based compensation.”

A discussion of the Company's use of non-GAAP financial measures is set forth below. A reconciliation of net income to adjusted EBT, EBITDA, adjusted EBITDAR, adjusted EBITDA and FFO for Standard Bearer, as well as, a reconciliation of GAAP earnings per share, net income to adjusted net income and adjusted net earnings per share appear in the financial data portion of this release. More complete information is contained in the company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2024, which is expected to be filed with the SEC today and can be viewed on the Company’s website at http://www.ensigngroup.net.

Growth and Real Estate Highlights

Mr. Keetch added additional commentary on the Company’s continued acquisition activity. “We were very happy to complete several new acquisitions during the quarter across 7 of our 14 states. We continue to prioritize growth in our established geographies as it allows our clusters to work together with their acute care partners to provide a comprehensive solution to their healthcare needs. In particular, we are very excited to grow in Arizona where we have deep and long-standing relationships with the largest hospital systems in the state. However, we are also excited to build clusters in new states or in markets where we have significant room to add more density and expect additional growth in some of our newer markets in the next several months.

The recent acquisitions include the following leased operations:

• Creekview Health and Rehabilitation, a 78-bed skilled nursing facility located in Knoxville, Tennessee;

• Foothills Transitional Care and Rehabilitation, a 135-bed skilled nursing facility located in Maryville, Tennessee;
  

• Midlothian Healthcare Center, a 120-bed skilled nursing facility located in Midlothian, Texas; and
  

• The Springs at St. Andrews Village, a 58-bed skilled nursing facility located in Aurora, Colorado

Standard Bearer also announced the following real estate acquisitions, all of which are operated by an Ensign-affiliate effective as of the acquisition date:

• River Park Post Acute and Elmwood Senior Living, a healthcare campus with 66 skilled nursing beds, 45 assisted living units and 119 independent living units located in Chandler, Arizona;
  

• Hillside Village of De Soto Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, a healthcare campus with 49 skilled nursing beds and 38 assisted living units, located in De Soto, Kansas;
  

• Spencer Post Acute Rehabilitation Center, an 82-bed skilled nursing facility located in Spencer, Iowa;
  

• South Davis Specialty Care, a 95-bed skilled nursing operation, located in Bountiful, Utah;
  

• Western Peaks Specialty Hospital and South Davis Community Hospital Child Care Center, a 33-bed long-term acute care hospital (LTACH) and 10 pediatric LTAC beds and a day child care center located in Bountiful, Utah; and
  

• Wellsprings of Gilbert, a 32 bed skilled nursing facility located in Gilbert, Arizona;

Ensign's growing portfolio consists of 312 healthcare operations, 29 of which also include senior living operations, across fourteen states. Ensign now owns 120 real estate assets, 90 of which it operates. Keetch noted that Ensign’s overall strategy will continue to include both leasing and acquiring real estate and that the Company is actively looking for performing and underperforming operations in several states.

The Company continues to provide additional disclosure on Standard Bearer, which is comprised of 115 owned properties. Of these assets, 86 are leased to an Ensign-affiliated operator and 30 are leased to third-party operators. Keetch noted that each of these properties are subject to triple-net, long-term leases and generated rental revenue of $23.4 million for the quarter, of which $19.2 million was derived from Ensign affiliated operations. For the quarter, Ensign reported $14.5 million in FFO.

The Company paid a quarterly cash dividend of $0.06 per share of Ensign common stock. Ms. Snapper noted that the Company’s liquidity remains strong and that the Company plans to continue its long history of paying dividends into the future, noting that in December of 2023 the Company increased the annual dividend for the 21st consecutive year.

Conference Call

A live webcast will be held Friday, July 26, 2024 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific time (1:00 p.m. Eastern time) to discuss Ensign’s second quarter financial results. To listen to the webcast, or to view any financial or statistical information required by SEC Regulation G, please visit the Investors Relations section of Ensign’s website at http://investor.ensigngroup.net. The webcast will be recorded and will be available for replay via the website until 5:00 p.m. Pacific time on Friday, August 30, 2024.

About Ensign™

The Ensign Group, Inc.'s independent subsidiaries provide a broad spectrum of skilled nursing and senior living services, physical, occupational and speech therapies and other rehabilitative and healthcare services at 312 healthcare facilities in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Nevada, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin. As part of its investment strategy, the Company will also acquire, lease and own healthcare real estate to service the post-acute care continuum through acquisition and investment opportunities in healthcare properties. Ensign’s new business venture operating subsidiaries also offer several other post-acute-related services, including mobile x-ray, emergency and non-emergency transportation services, long-term care pharmacy and other consulting services also across several states. Each of these operations is operated by a separate, independent subsidiary that has its own management, employees and assets. References herein to the consolidated "Company" and "its" assets and activities, as well as the use of the terms "we," "us," "its" and similar verbiage, are not meant to imply that The Ensign Group, Inc. has direct operating assets, employees or revenue, or that any of the facilities, the Service Center, Standard Bearer or the captive insurance subsidiary are operated by the same entity. More information about Ensign is available at http://www.ensigngroup.net.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:

This press release contains, and the related conference call and webcast will include forward-looking statements that are based on management’s current expectations, assumptions and beliefs about its business, financial performance, operating results, the industry in which it operates and other future events. Forward-looking statements can often be identified by words such as "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "predicts," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "may," "will," "should," "would," "could," "potential," "continue," "ongoing," similar expressions, and variations or negatives of these words. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding growth prospects, future operating and financial performance, and acquisition activities. They are not guarantees of future results and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to materially and adversely differ from those expressed in any forward-looking statement.

These risks and uncertainties relate to the Company’s business, its industry and its common stock and include: reduced prices and reimbursement rates for its services; its ability to acquire, develop, manage or improve operations, its ability to manage its increasing borrowing costs as it incurs additional indebtedness to fund the acquisition and development of operations; its ability to access capital on a cost-effective basis to continue to successfully implement its growth strategy; its operating margins and profitability could suffer if it is unable to grow and manage effectively its increasing number of operations; competition from other companies in the acquisition, development and operation of facilities; its ability to defend claims and lawsuits, including professional liability claims alleging that our services resulted in personal injury, and other regulatory-related claims; and the application of existing or proposed government regulations, or the adoption of new laws and regulations, that could limit its business operations, require it to incur significant expenditures or limit its ability to relocate its operations if necessary. Additionally, our business and operations continue to be impacted by the unprecedented nature of the changes in the regulations and environment, as such, we are unable to predict the full extent and duration of the financial impact of these changes on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Therefore, our actual results could differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. Readers should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements and are encouraged to review the Company’s periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Form 10-Q and 10-K, for a more complete discussion of the risks and other factors that could affect Ensign’s business, prospects and any forward-looking statements. Except as required by the federal securities laws, Ensign does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, changing circumstances or any other reason after the date of this press release.

Contact Information
Investor/Media Relations, The Ensign Group, Inc., (949) 487-9500, ir@ensigngroup.net.

SOURCE: The Ensign Group, Inc.

(a) Litigation relates to specific proceedings arising outside of the ordinary course of business and legal adjustments associated with a favorable overturned verdict.
(b) Costs incurred to acquire operations that are not capitalizable.

The following table reconciles net income to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA for the periods presented, with the presentation recast to conform to the current period presentation.

The table below reconciles income before provision for income taxes to Adjusted EBT for the periods presented:

(a) Litigation relates to specific proceedings arising outside of the ordinary course of business and legal adjustments associated with a favorable overturned verdict.
(b) Costs incurred to acquire operations that are not capitalizable.
(c) Included in depreciation and amortization are amortization expenses related to patient base intangible assets at newly acquired skilled nursing and senior living facilities.

1. Campus represents a facility that offers both skilled nursing and senior living services. Revenue and expenses related to skilled nursing and senior living services have been allocated and recorded in the respective operating segment.
2. Same Facility results represent all facilities purchased prior to January 1, 2021.
3. Transitioning Facility results represent all facilities purchased from January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2022.
4. Recently Acquired Facility (Acquisitions) results represent all facilities purchased on or subsequent to January 1, 2023.

1. Campus represents a facility that offers both skilled nursing and senior living services. Revenue and expenses related to skilled nursing and senior living services have been allocated and recorded in the respective operating segment.
2. Same Facility results represent all facilities purchased prior to January 1, 2021.
3. Transitioning Facility results represent all facilities purchased from January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2022.
4. Recently Acquired Facility (Acquisitions) results represent all facilities purchased on or subsequent to January 1, 2023.

(1) The rates are based on contractually agreed-upon amounts or rates, excluding the estimates of variable consideration under the revenue recognition standard, Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) Topic 606 and state relief funding during the three months ended June 30, 2023.

(1) The rates are based on contractually agreed-upon amounts or rates, excluding the estimates of variable consideration under the revenue recognition standard, Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) Topic 606 and state relief funding during the six months ended June 30, 2023.

The following tables set forth our percentage of skilled nursing patient revenue and days by payor source for the periods presented: