Earnings Labs

Stratus Properties Inc. (STRS)

Q3 2020 Earnings Call· Mon, Nov 9, 2020

$30.00

+0.23%

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day and welcome to the Stratus Properties Third Quarter 2020 Financial and Operational Conference Call. Earlier this morning, Stratus issued a press release announcing its third quarter 2020 financial results. The press release is available on Stratus’ website at stratusproperties.com. Following management’s remarks, we will host a question-and-answer session. Please note this call is being recorded and will be available for telephone replay on Stratus’ website through November 14, 2020. Anyone listening to the taped replay should note that all information presented is current as of today, November 09, 2020 and should be considered valid only as of this date. As a reminder, today’s press release and certain comments that will be made on this call include forward-looking statements and actual results may differ materially. Please review and refer to the cautionary language included in Stratus’ press release issued today and the risk factors described in Stratus’ 2019 Form 10-K and second quarter 2020 Form 10-Q that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected by Stratus. In addition, management will discuss earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, also referred to as EBITDA, which is a financial measure not recognized under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, also referred to as GAAP. As required by SEC rules and regulations, this non-GAAP financial measure is reconciled to its most comparable GAAP financial measure in a supplemental schedule of Stratus’ press release issued today. I would now like to turn the conference over to. Mr. William Armstrong, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Stratus Properties.

William Armstrong

Management

Thank you for joining our third quarter 2020 financial and operational conference call. Our Chief Financial Officer, Erin Pickens is also here with me today. We are nearing the end of a very unexpected year. As the COVID-19 pandemic started to spread and lock downs commenced across Texas and the United States in the first half of the year, we quickly made changes to the way we operate to protect the health and safety of our employees, while working to ensure that the communities and tenants we serve remain confident in the safe operation of our properties. We have made several technical adjustments to our business, including additional focus on preserving liquidity and supporting our commercial and residential tenants. We believe these efforts will help to ensure the Company’s continued focus on its overall strategy while maintaining its liquidity and financial flexibility. I would like to provide an overview of the actions we are taking to manage the impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic. Our ongoing activities to further stabilize and plan the development of certain of our properties; and finally, an overview of our REIT exploration process announced in September. Our long-term strategy to deliver shareholder returns by selling, refinancing and leasing our properties to position them for future monetization remains unchanged, and we have continued to execute this strategy even throughout the pandemic. We are, of course, experiencing challenges similar to other hotel and live entertainment companies across the globe. As evidenced by the terminated $275 million Block 21 sale to Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc. If this Block 21 transaction had taken place, Stratus could have expected to record an approximately $130 million pretax gain based on December 31, 2019 balances. However, with the terminated sale, Ryman agreed to forfeit $15 million in earnest money in May of 2020.…

Erin Pickens

Management

Thank you, Bill. Earlier this morning, we issued a press release announcing our operational and financial results for the third quarter of 2020. Consolidated revenues totaled $12.8 million in the third quarter of 2020 compared with $22.3 million in the third quarter of last year. The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to adversely impact our hotel and entertainment operations. And we expect to experience continued impacts in future periods, while COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing. The decrease in revenues was partially offset by increases in revenue from our real estate and leasing operations. Net loss attributable to common stockholders totaled $15.1 million or $1.84 per share in the third quarter of 2020 compared to a net loss attributable to common stockholders of $3 million or $0.36 per share in the third quarter of 2019. The higher net loss this quarter is primarily due to a $9.6 million noncash tax charge to record a valuation allowance on Stratus’ deferred tax assets related to past and potential future losses resulting from the pandemic and not being able to recognize anticipated gains from the sale of Block 21 and operating losses from our hotel and entertainment segments in the 2020 periods, primarily as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. EBITDA was negative $0.6 million in the third quarter of 2020 compared to positive $2.7 million in the third quarter of last year. This decrease primarily reflects the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Stratus’ hotel and entertainment operations. I will now provide brief commentary on our reporting segments. Revenue from our Real Estate operations segment in the third quarter of 2020 totaled $5 million, up from $2.6 million a year ago. Operating income in the segment was $1.4 million in the third quarter of 2020, up from $211,000 in the third quarter of last year.…

William Armstrong

Management

Thank you, Erin. Stratus Properties has operated in Austin and other select fast-growing Texas markets, such as the Houston suburbs for more than 30-years. We believe that our properties are located in the prominent real estate locations across Texas and that Austin, in particular, will continue to be among the strongest real estate markets in the United States. In fact, the Austin area population has grown significantly by 33% from 2009 through 2018 and median family income levels in the area increased by 30% in the same time period. We are following these trends, and as you have seen, we are developing properties where we believe we will witness the most population growth. In the meantime, while the pandemic continues to significantly impact our hotel, entertainment assets and communities, we believe our projects are important to our communities during these unprecedented times. Our mixed-use properties provide people with a place to sleep, eat, live and grow with their friends and families. Regardless of the macro market situation, our strategy remains sound, and we have a we have a very high-quality pipeline of opportunities and believe Stratus is well positioned to create value as the business environment continues to recover. This year has been filled with unanticipated challenges and I urge everyone to remain safe and healthy as we work together to get through this pandemic. Thank you for listening in. At this time, I will ask the operator to open the line for questions.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. [Operator Instructions]

Operator

Operator