Dave Sedgwick, president and CEO of CareTrust REIT, Inc. (NYSE: CTRE), participated in a video interview during Nareit’s REITworld: 2023 Annual Conference held Nov. 14-16 in Los Angeles.
For the year ahead, the big theme at CareTrust is growth, according to Sedgwick. “Our company has just been built for times like this. Our balance sheet is in great shape, our $600 million line of credit has been completely paid off, our debt to EBITDA is the lowest it’s ever been, so we have a ton of dry powder to take advantage of an opportunity to grow like we really never have. The table is set for sizeable external growth next year,” he said.
In the year ahead, growth will be mostly concentrated in assisted living and skilled nursing properties, Sedgwick said, “although we have opened the sandbox a bit to include behavioral health properties.” The REIT may also look further up the acuity ladder by considering rehab hospitals, he added.
Sedgwick stressed that the REIT is facing a “window of opportunity that we’ve just never seen before,” given that many parties are currently staying on the sidelines. “The only limitation to our growth is—do we have a great operator to partner with, and do we have the internal capabilities to digest the type of growth we have in front of us,” he said.