VICI Properties Inc. Common Stock 2026 Q3 Earnings Call

Thank you, operator, and good morning. Everyone should have access to the company's third quarter 2026 earnings release and supplemental information. The release and supplemental information can be found in the investors section of the VICI Properties website at www.viciproperties.com. Some of our comments today will be forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements, which are usually identified by the use of words such as will, believe, expect, should, guidance, intends, outlook, projects, or other similar phrases, are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from what we expect. Therefore, you should exercise caution in interpreting and relying on them. I refer you to the company's SEC filings for a more detailed discussion of the risks that could impact future operating results and financial conditions.

During the call, we will discuss certain non-GAAP measures, which we believe can be useful in evaluating the company's operating performance. These measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for our financial results prepared in accordance with GAAP. A reconciliation of these measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measure is available on our website, in our third quarter 2026 earnings release, our supplemental information, and our filings with the SEC. For additional information with respect to non-GAAP measures of certain tenants and/or counterparties discussed on this call, please refer to the respective company's public filings with the SEC. Hosting the call today, we have Ed Pitoniak, Chief Executive Officer, John Payne, President and Chief Operating Officer, David Kieske, Chief Financial Officer, Jeremy Waxman, Chief Accounting Officer, Gabe Wasserman, Managing Director of Business Development and V.E.C.S., and Moira McCloskey, Senior Vice President of Capital Markets.

Ed and team will provide some opening remarks, and then we will open the call to questions. With that, I will turn the call over to Ed.

Thanks, Sam. This is John Payne. Ed dropped from the call, so I'm going to start with John?

Yeah. John, sorry. I got back in, and thank you for that, John, and thank you, Samantha, and good morning, everyone.

In a moment, you'll hear from John Payne on our investment outlook and activities and from David Kieske on our financial results and updated guidance. To start, I want to thank the VICI team for the work they did in Q3 to continue to grow VICI's investment portfolio and investment earnings. As David will discuss further, we grew our revenues 5.8% in Q3 and our AFFO per share by 4.3%. In addition, within Q3, we deployed $221 million of capital into previously announced investing activities, capital intended to produce income growth in future quarters.

While I'm very proud of the work the VICI team did during Q3 2026 to grow the quality and earnings production of our portfolio, as a fellow VICI stockholder, I'm disappointed with VICI's share price performance during the quarter and year to date. I know many of you share that disappointment because I've heard of that disappointment firsthand from you. In our continuous dialogues with VICI stockholders, we generally hear them cite what they justifiably believe are three key factors impacting our equity performance. I will order these three factors from general factors impacting all net lease REITs to factors specific to VICI. Factor one, general recent negativity around net lease REIT stocks given the current interest rate environment and aversion to duration, especially those net lease REIT stocks that have consumer exposure given the current general negativity around consumer discretionary spending.

Factor two, VICI's ability to generate accretive growth in the future given our current capital market conditions and cost of capital. Factor three, uncertainties around our Caesars regional lease. For factor one, general negativity around net lease REITs. We can't do anything to change general credit market conditions and general views around how those conditions impact net lease REITs. What we have done since our beginning, and will continue to do, is manage our business to protect VICI stakeholders from general market conditions as best we can.

Those management actions center on maintaining our target leverage of approximately 5x-5.5x adjusted EBITDA, a payout ratio of approximately 75%, which allows for significant retained free cash flow, and a conservative approach to G&A, with VICI achieving one of the lowest ratios of G&A spending among net lease REITs specifically and all REITs generally, whether measured as a percentage of revenue or percentage of assets under management. For factor two, VICI's ability to generate accretive growth given current capital market conditions and VICI's specific cost of capital. We do not believe that we have lost access to capital that can grow shareholder value. We have three key capital sources that do not rely on access to public market equity.

Capital source one, our retained cash flow after all obligations, G&A, interest expense, and dividend distributions, which averages approximately $720 million on a trailing 12-month basis. Capital source two, proceeds from future repayment of our outstanding loans as they are repaid over the coming years. Capital source three, as with any REIT practicing proper portfolio management, there is the potential to recover and redeploy capital through asset sales. Beyond these three sources, we are always exploring and evaluating alternative forms of capital, including the range of structures other REITs across the sector have recently developed. Whatever capital source we rely on at a given time, VICI's management team and VICI's board of directors will always take great care in making sure that that capital is used for what we believe are the best economic and strategic purposes, given the circumstances in consideration at a given time.

Among those purposes could be potential VICI share repurchasing. Accordingly, we have announced the establishment of VICI's first stock buyback authorization. If, and let me emphasize that if at a given time in the future we have uncommitted investable capital, whether because of uncommitted retained cash flow, repaid loans, or asset sales, we will rigorously examine the potential uses of that capital. If the best use of that capital is the repurchase of stock, we may potentially do so. Finally, let me conclude with a few words about what I cited as factor three impacting our stock price performance, our Caesars regional lease. First of all, amidst all the market chatter, we believe it's critically important to understand in relation to our Caesars regional lease, what we own, and two, the essential ways of understanding and managing the value of what we own.

When it comes to the Caesars regional lease, in the simplest terms, what we own are real assets within which significant economic activity and output are produced, and from those assets, we own an income stream in the form of rent. The VICI team is analyzing every dollar of our VICI income stream within our Caesars regional lease properties through various valuation prisms. In essence, we are asking in relation to this asset-based income stream, what income structuring model and potential related actions produce the greatest aggregate value for our stockholders?

At this time, I cannot tell you what actions our analytical work on our Caesars regional lease will lead to, but I can tell you that the work the VICI team is doing to value what we own is the means by which we will eventually make the decisions and take the actions we believe best serve the long-term strategic and economic interests of our stakeholders. Again, be assured that the VICI team and VICI board are focused every day on determining and executing the strategies that will produce the best achievable long-term value creation for our stockholders. With that, I will turn the call over to John.