Eastgroup Properties Inc at Citi Global Property CEO Conference Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Craig Mailman - Citi Investment Research (US) - Analyst : Perfect. Thanks, Marshall. Kind of curious, does the messaging change today versus what it was yesterday given what went into effect? Or is it the uncertainty just too hard to handicap. And as you pointed out, your tenant segment and space segment is trending well ahead of the overall national average. And so you're kind of not expecting to see as much potential impact?

Question: Craig Mailman - Citi Investment Research (US) - Analyst : Appreciate that.

Question: Craig Mailman - Citi Investment Research (US) - Analyst : Okay. That was definitely helpful. And you brought up the operating update you guys put out and you're 97.1% occupied. So talk about the volume of leases you've seen even post earnings, which I assume included the Conn's lease, right, because you did talk about that on the call. So that was a great backfill. Maybe also talk about how Starship, the backfill of that kind of is going and the timing on that.

Question: Craig Mailman - Citi Investment Research (US) - Analyst : No, that's great. I have a couple of follow-ups following those comments. I mean, as we think about the Conn's lease with the March -- kind of end of March commencement date at a 20% gap, I don't know what it is on cash, but probably somewhere 10% to 15%-ish?

Question: Craig Mailman - Citi Investment Research (US) - Analyst : I mean, what was dialed into guidance on the backfill of that? Like how much sooner is that than what you guys had thought? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. MARCH 04, 2025 / 4:00PM, EGP.N - Eastgroup Properties Inc at Citi Global Property CEO Conference

Question: Craig Mailman - Citi Investment Research (US) - Analyst : Wow. All right. And then Todd, you had kind of mentioned some Florida leasing in the development pipeline. I'm just looking at the schedule here. I know you got some space in Fort Myers. You got some space in Miami, Orlando. Like where are you seeing the pickup in activity around the vacancy that you have?

Question: Craig Mailman - Citi Investment Research (US) - Analyst : And you had also mentioned Atlanta. How much space were you talking about getting leased there?

Question: Craig Mailman - Citi Investment Research (US) - Analyst : All right. So I know when I look last quarter, the lease-up pipeline under construction, the pre-leasing was a little bit slower. It sounds like as we stand here today, the lease-up pipeline is going to go from 20% to something much higher.

Question: Craig Mailman - Citi Investment Research (US) - Analyst : Just tell Brent the risk of not coming to conferences is he's gping to have to -- raise number to get back.

Question: Craig Mailman - Citi Investment Research (US) - Analyst : I'm a Jets fan. Trust me, I know. (laughter) But I mean, it's been a pretty consistent message, right, is I think one company put it as cautious optimism around activity improving. I mean, as you sit here today, how much sleep do you lose at night that this is totally going to reverse because there's some tariffs versus it may be a speed bump, but where we sit today, new supply, we know that pipeline is largely empty now. New starts, I mean, talk about maybe that in your market, especially for your comparable space is pretty minimal. So as you just look at the math of if companies want to expand, they've been sitting on the sidelines for three years and you get back to a more normalized level of absorption and supply ebbs kind of talk about the math as you see it for your property type and competitive set over the next 12 to 18 months?

Question: Craig Mailman - Citi Investment Research (US) - Analyst : And you guys have been -- have been able to use equity to kind of finance your business plan. You have sold assets as well. But if the acquisition market cap rates continue to tighten despite the tenure moving higher, I mean, the -- I know you guys selectively sell, but like could that be a bigger part of the financing plan versus equity, even though your cost of equity has also improved, right? You guys hit the ATM a bit. Just talk about, I guess, sources of capital versus the deployment yields that you're seeing. And you guys are an active developer. Are you -- what are you expecting on the construction side as it relates to labor costs, right, with the immigration outlook that this administration has on inputs with tariffs, right? Like what kind of yield degradation could you see from just higher costs versus rents growth that you're seeing in your market? I know that's a lot of questions.

Question: Craig Mailman - Citi Investment Research (US) - Analyst : Go ahead. I forgot half of what it was.

Question: Craig Mailman - Citi Investment Research (US) - Analyst : And we had a question come in on live QA. What do you think caused the leasing uptick after the election? Why has it continued? It seems like business consumer confidence is rolling over.

Question: Craig Mailman - Citi Investment Research (US) - Analyst : Perfect. Maybe we'll, in the interest of time, just jump to the rapid fire questions. In 2026, what do you think same-store NOI for the industrial group will be?

Question: Craig Mailman - Citi Investment Research (US) - Analyst : And 12 months from now, will be more same or the less amount of public industrial companies?

Question: Craig Mailman - Citi Investment Research (US) - Analyst : Perfect. Well, thank you guys so much.