CareTrust Lifts 2026 Normalized FFO Outlook After LNT Home Deal

The Tip Desk · November 6, 2026 · 3 min read

Normalized FFO was $0.54 a share in the third quarter, and the company now sees full-year Normalized FFO of about $2.08 to $2.09 a share.

CareTrust REIT (CTRE), a self-administered real estate investment trust in skilled nursing, seniors housing and other healthcare-related properties, reported Normalized FFO of $129.2 million, or $0.54 a share, for the quarter ended September 30, 2026. Normalized FFO per diluted share rose 20% from a year earlier. Normalized FAD was $127.0 million, or $0.53 a share.

Net income attributable to CareTrust was $83.7 million, or $0.35 a share, matching the year-ago per-share result. Total revenues were $176.4 million, up from $132.4 million a year earlier. Rental income was $127.2 million. Interest income from financing receivables was $14.0 million, and resident fees and services were $7.2 million, versus none a year earlier.

The company closed $739.5 million of investment activity in the quarter at a blended stabilized yield of 8.3%. It also settled $578.2 million of gross proceeds from a May 2026 forward equity offering and issued $280.5 million under its ATM program. Contractual rent and interest collection was 100.0%. The quarterly dividend remained $0.39 a share, a payout ratio of about 74% of Normalized FAD.

Net Debt to Annualized Normalized Run Rate EBITDA was 1.4x at quarter end, below the company’s target leverage range of 4.0x to 5.0x. Normalized Run Rate EBITDA attributable to CareTrust was $160.0 million.

Since quarter end, CareTrust began acquiring 45 newly built U.K. care homes from LNT Care Developments for approximately £1.1 billion. Twenty-three homes closed on October 1, 2026 for £552 million ($733 million), exclusive of transaction costs; the remaining 22 homes are expected on a rolling basis through 2027 for £528 million. Other investment activity of $273.8 million closed at a blended stabilized yield of 10.6%, bringing 2026 year-to-date investments to about $2.9 billion at a blended stabilized yield of 8.1%. The investment pipeline was $1.2 billion including the remaining LNT homes.

Chief Executive Officer Dave Sedgwick said Normalized FFO per share increased 20% year-over-year and that the team set another record of approximately $2.9 billion invested across skilled nursing, SHOP, and U.K. care homes. He said the LNT relationship is a multiplier to the company’s SHOP and U.K. care home growth engines.

CareTrust closed a new $700 million unsecured term loan maturing in 2032 and expanded its unsecured revolving credit facility to $2.0 billion, using term-loan proceeds to repay revolver borrowings and fund investment activity. As of November 4, 2026, $1.6 billion was available on the revolver and cash on hand was about $100 million. Chief Financial Officer Derek Bunker said borrowings outstanding on the revolver were $425 million, with no scheduled debt maturities prior to 2028.

The company raised the midpoints of its 2026 Normalized FFO and Normalized FAD outlooks and lifted the low ends of those estimates. It now projects Normalized FFO of approximately $2.08 to $2.09 a share and Normalized FAD of approximately $2.04 to $2.05 a share. The net income outlook was reduced to approximately $1.50 to $1.51 a share from a prior range of $1.53 to $1.56. Bunker said the updated Normalized FFO and Normalized FAD midpoints represent increases of 18.5% and 16.2%, respectively, over 2025 results.

Full-year 2026 guidance is based on a weighted average diluted share count of 240 million shares and assumes no new investments, loans, or dispositions beyond those made or announced year-to-date, no new debt or equity issuances beyond those made year-to-date, 2.5% inflation-based rent escalators under long-term triple net leases, $147 million of loans to be fully repaid throughout the year, and no material change in the GBP:USD spot exchange rate. Bunker said the new term loan and expanded revolver extend the company’s runway and give it capacity to fund the remaining LNT homes and the rest of the pipeline.