Timothy Martin
Analyst · Citi
Thanks, Chris, and thanks to everyone joining us on the call for your continued interest and support. Another solid quarter report. We reported third quarter 2019 results last evening, including a headline result of $0.44 per share of FFO as adjusted, which was at high end of our guidance range. 1.5% growth in same-store revenue and 5.3% growth in same-store expenses yielded same-store NOI growth of 0.1% during the quarter. As Chris mentioned, the impact of new supply on operating fundamentals continues into the back half of 2019, consistent with our expectations. We continue to see pressure on run rates, while continuing to maintain solid occupancy levels. Same-store occupancy ended the quarter at 92.5%, and we averaged 93.1% during the quarter. Expense growth of 5.3% was driven by continued pressure on real estate taxes, timing of repair and maintenance costs compared to last year as well as the impact of a fairly significant increase in the cost of our property and casualty insurance compared to last year. Following our big transaction last quarter, external growth was more modest in the third quarter. On a wholly owned basis, we acquired 2 stores during the quarter for just under $18 million, one in Atlanta and one in Charleston, South Carolina. Year-to-date, we've invested $189 million into wholly owned store acquisitions and have another $88 million under contract. So we continue to find good opportunities to grow and expand in our target markets. Our HVP IV venture that is focused on lease-up acquisitions added two more stores during the quarter for $46 million, and we expect to add another two stores during the fourth quarter to that venture for around $34 million. During the quarter, we opened one of our development projects in the Boston MSA. We also added a new development into our pipeline in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania as detailed on Page 23 of our supplemental information package. We currently have 5 projects in our development queue, with deliveries expected through 2021. Our third-party management platform continued adding stores in a meaningful way as we added 48 stores in the third quarter, bringing our third-party platform to 652 stores under management. This growth allows us to further leverage our operating platform, expand the CubeSmart brand and likely will provide some attractive acquisition opportunities in the future. On the balance sheet front, we've been active in raising both debt and equity capital. During the quarter, we issued 1.8 million shares under our aftermarket equity program, raising $61.2 million at an average price of $34.93 per share. In subsequent to quarter-end, we accessed the public bond market for the second time this year. In early October, we issued $350 million in senior unsecured notes that bear interest at 3% and mature in 2030. Proceeds from the offerings were used to repay amounts drawn on our revolving credit facility as well as to fund acquisition and development activity. Combining all of this activity, along with our new $750 million revolver we discussed on last quarter's call, we're well positioned from a balance sheet perspective and have capacity to execute our external growth strategy and to fund that growth in a manner that's consistent with our investment-grade credit ratings. Our revised earnings guidance and underlying assumptions are detailed in our release from last evening. Highlights include a narrowed full year range of FFO per share as adjusted of $1.67 to $1.69, which is 0.5p raise at the midpoint, as well as narrowed ranges for our outlook for same-store revenue, expenses and NOI. We introduced fourth quarter FFO per share as adjusted guidance of $0.41 to $0.42. So thanks, again, for joining us on the call this morning. At this point, Chad, why don't we open up the floor for some questions?