Earnings call transcript: Franklin Street Properties Q1 2025 misses EPS forecast

Franklin Street Properties Corp. (FSP) reported a net loss of $21.4 million or $0.21 per share for the first quarter of 2025, missing analyst expectations of a $0.08 loss per share. The company’s revenue also fell short, coming in at $27.11 million compared to the forecasted $30.91 million. Despite these results, Franklin Street Properties’ stock experienced a slight increase of 2.58% in after-hours trading, closing at $1.59. According to InvestingPro analysis, FSP is currently trading below its Fair Value, with multiple metrics suggesting potential undervaluation, including a price-to-book ratio of just 0.25.

Key Takeaways

• Franklin Street Properties reported a larger-than-expected loss in Q1 2025.
• Revenue was below forecasts, impacting investor sentiment.
• Stock price rose 2.58% in after-hours trading, possibly reflecting investor optimism about future prospects.
• The company completed significant property sales, reducing corporate debt by nearly 75%.
• Leasing activity showed signs of stabilization, with potential growth in Texas markets.

Company Performance

Franklin Street Properties faced challenges in Q1 2025, with a reported net loss significantly larger than anticipated. The company focused on strategic asset dispositions, completing $1.1 billion in property sales, which contributed to a substantial reduction in corporate debt. The office investment landscape showed stabilization, with national transaction volumes increasing, although the company’s leasing activity remained subdued.

Financial Highlights

• Revenue: $27.11 million, below the forecast of $30.91 million.
• Earnings per share: -$0.21, missing the forecast of -$0.08.
• Funds from Operations (FFO): $2.7 million or $0.03 per share.
• Corporate debt reduction: Nearly 75%.

Earnings vs. Forecast

Franklin Street Properties reported an EPS of -$0.21, significantly missing the forecasted -$0.08. Revenue also fell short, with actual figures at $27.11 million compared to the expected $30.91 million. This represents a substantial miss, reflecting ongoing challenges in the company’s operational environment.

Market Reaction

Despite the earnings miss, Franklin Street Properties’ stock price rose by 2.58% in after-hours trading, closing at $1.59. This movement may indicate investor confidence in the company’s strategic initiatives, such as debt reduction and asset sales. The stock remains within its 52-week range, with a low of $1.36 and a high of $2.21.

Outlook & Guidance

Looking forward, Franklin Street Properties anticipates a challenging leasing environment in 2025 but remains optimistic about full-year progress. The company is exploring strategic alternatives to unlock portfolio value and is focused on maintaining financial flexibility through continued debt reduction.

Executive Commentary

• Jeff Carter, President and CIO, stated, "We continue to believe our share price does not reflect the longer-term intrinsic value of our underlying portfolio."
• George Carter, CEO, emphasized, "We are actively considering all options from operational adjustments to strategic transactions."
• John Donahue, President of Property Management, noted, "Dozens of small and mid-sized prospects appear to be in a wait-and-watch position."

Risks and Challenges

• Continued pressure on leasing activity, with economic occupancy down to 67.7%.
• Elevated cap rates and asset values below 2021 levels could impact asset sales.
• Constrained investment and lending liquidity in the office sector.
• Potential volatility in quarterly lease executions throughout 2025.
• Dependence on Texas markets, which may face regional economic fluctuations.

Q&A

During the earnings call, analysts questioned the company’s focus on renewal-only leasing in Q1 and its geographic strengths. Management highlighted challenges in new lease negotiations but expressed confidence in the Texas market’s potential, expecting improved leasing activity in the coming quarters.

Full transcript - Franklin Street Properties Corp (FSP) Q1 2025:

Kayla, Conference Operator: Thank you for standing by. My name is Kayla, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Franklin Street Properties Corp. First Quarter twenty twenty five Results. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise.

After the speakers’ remarks, there will be a question and answer session. I would now like to turn the call over to Scott Carter, General Counsel. You may begin.

Scott Carter, General Counsel, Franklin Street Properties: Good morning, and welcome to the Franklin Street Properties first quarter twenty twenty five earnings call. Joining me this morning are George Carter, our Chief Executive John Demeritt, our Chief Financial Officer Jeff Carter, our President and Chief Investment Officer and John Donahue, President of FSP Property Management. Also joining me this morning are Toby Daley and Will Friend, both Executive Vice Presidents of FSP Property Management. Please note that various remarks that we may make about future expectations, plans and prospects for the company may constitute forward looking statements for purposes of the Safe Harbor provisions under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward looking statements as a result of various important factors, including those discussed in the Risk Factors section of our annual report on Form 10 ks for the year ended 12/31/2024, as amended by our quarterly reports on Form 10 Q, all of which are on file with the SEC.

In addition, these forward looking statements represent the company’s expectations only as of today, 04/30/2025. While the company may elect to update these forward looking statements, it specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. Any forward looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the company’s estimates or views as of any date subsequent to today. At times during this call, we may refer to funds from operations or FFO. Reconciliations of FFO and other non GAAP financial measures to GAAP net income are contained in yesterday’s press release, which is available in the Investor Relations section of our website at www.fspreit.com.

Now I’ll turn the call over to John Demeritt. John?

John Demeritt, Chief Financial Officer, Franklin Street Properties: Thank you, Scott, and good morning, everyone. I’m going to give a brief overview of our first quarter results. Afterward, I’ll pass the call to George for his thoughts. As a reminder, our comments today will refer to our earnings release, supplemental package and 10 Q, which, as Scott has mentioned, can be found on our website. We reported funds from operations, or FFO, of about $2,700,000 or $03 per share for the first quarter of twenty twenty five.

We also reported a GAAP net loss of about $21,400,000 or $0.21 per share for the first quarter. With that, I’ll turn the call over to George. George?

George Carter, Chief Executive Officer, Franklin Street Properties: Thank you, John. And again, welcome to Franklin Street Properties first quarter twenty twenty five earnings call. Just to highlight my written comments in our earnings press release of last evening, I will say FSP remained focused during the first quarter of twenty twenty five on the same two primary objectives as last year. That is to advance leasing of space in our existing property portfolio and to continue to pursue property dispositions. We intend to use net proceeds from any property dispositions primarily for the continued repayment of our debt.

More recently, however, over the last approximately six weeks, the broader economic environment has displayed several macro uncertainties that bear watching for their potential longer term impact on deal making within the office asset class. The recent tariff headlines, for example, have introduced increased volatility and uncertainty into the marketplace, potentially affecting both corporate leasing decisions and investment inacquisition of office properties. While we can’t control such external factors, we are monitoring these situations closely and are endeavoring to remain flexible and agile. We continue to engage with tenants, both existing tenants and new prospective tenants, our associated professionals, our existing capital partners and new potential sources of capital so we can enhance our potential to move more quickly to a specific action when appropriate. And we continue to explore a broad spectrum of alternatives to try to ensure we unlock the full value of our property portfolio for shareholders.

We are actively considering all options from operational adjustments to strategic transactions and are consulting with several third party professionals in that regard. We remain confident in our direction, but are also open minded as to the best way to move forward successfully to our ultimate goal. I will now turn the call over to John Donahue, President of our property management company, for some more color on leasing. John?

John Donahue, President of FSP Property Management, Franklin Street Properties: Thank you, George. Good morning, everyone. The FSP directly owned portfolio was approximately 69.2% leased at the end of the first quarter compared to 70.3% leased at the end of the fourth quarter. Economic occupancy of the directly owned portfolio was approximately 67.7% at the end of the first quarter compared to 68.6% at the end of calendar twenty twenty four. The decreases were attributable to multiple lease expirations and departures in Dallas and Denver.

The strong and encouraging leasing results to close out calendar twenty twenty four were followed by a weak and somewhat disappointing first quarter. FSP finalized approximately 60,000 square feet of total leasing during the first quarter, which was comprised entirely by renewals and expansions. As previously communicated, we anticipate a choppy quarter by quarter ride for aggregate lease executions for calendar twenty twenty five. However, we remain optimistic that the full year results will show progress. During the first quarter, final corporate leasing decisions regarding relocations to our assets have stalled in multiple cases.

Dozens of small and mid sized prospects appear to be in a wait and watch position due to recent market volatility and macroeconomic circumstances. The upward trend of tenants in the market witnessed during the second half of twenty twenty four has continued into the first quarter of twenty twenty five. The pipeline of mid sized new tenant prospects and those seeking at least one full floor, particularly in the suburbs, continued to grow over the last few months. FSP is currently tracking approximately 800,000 square feet of prospective new tenants, including approximately 300,000 square feet of prospects that have identified FSP assets on their respective shortlist. In addition, FSP continues to work with more than 400,000 square feet of potential renewals, which includes expansions and downsizings.

Scheduled lease expirations for the rest of calendar twenty twenty five total approximately 246,000 square feet, which represents approximately 5.1 of FSP’s directly owned portfolio. Barring any significant surprises or the impact of potential dispositions, the FSP portfolio is well positioned to enhance leased occupancy with positive net absorption during calendar twenty twenty five. Thank you. I will now turn it over to Jeff Carter.

Jeff Carter, President and Chief Investment Officer, Franklin Street Properties: Thank you, John, and good morning, everyone. I’ll provide an update on our disposition activity as well as some perspective on current market conditions. As a reminder, since initiating our current disposition strategy in late twenty twenty, we have completed approximately $1,100,000,000 in property sales, which has contributed to a nearly 75% reduction in our corporate indebtedness, reflecting our ongoing focus on balance sheet strength and financial flexibility. Each potential disposition effort considers unique factors, including tenancy, occupancy and local market dynamics. But across our disposition program, the sales we’ve completed to date have averaged approximately $211 per square foot.

We continue to believe our share price does not reflect the longer term intrinsic value of our underlying portfolio and we remain committed to selectively selling assets when we believe their valuation potential in the short to intermediate term has been achieved. To this end, we are currently marketing several properties totaling approximately 1,000,000 square feet for potential disposition. As a reminder, for competitive reasons, we will not be discussing potential disposition activity or candidates beyond what has been publicly disclosed. We believe this discretion is in the best interest of our shareholders, particularly in today’s environment, and we will continue working closely with our brokerage partners to identify and pursue the highest value outcomes on a deal by deal basis. Turning to market conditions, while the office investment landscape remains challenged, we are beginning to see signs of stabilization.

National office transaction volumes rose by 22% in 2024 from the cyclical lows of 2023 and accelerated in the first quarter of twenty twenty five finishing 31% higher year over year. That said, within our markets and at our property types, investment and lending liquidity remains constrained, especially for larger institutional buyers with both debt and equity capital still difficult to access. Cap rates remain elevated and office asset values are generally below 2021 levels. Where transactions are happening in our markets, they continue to skew towards smaller, higher quality, well leased assets and traditional institutional capital has remained largely on the sidelines. We are actively tracking these trends as we engage with credible buyers and market professionals across our disposition targets.

Consistent with our stated strategy, proceeds from any asset sales will continue to be used primarily for debt reduction, enhancing our optionality and positioning the company to pursue any path that maximizes shareholder value. And with that, we thank you for joining us today. Kayla?

Kayla, Conference Operator: And our first question comes from the line of Steve Demonski. Your line is open.

Steve Demonski, Analyst: Good morning, Can you please provide more insight on why leasing was solely executed for renewals during the first quarter?

John Donahue, President of FSP Property Management, Franklin Street Properties: Sure, Steve. This is John Donahue. We were working on a handful of new leases that just had stalled out maybe about a month ago. We are still pursuing those renewal transactions with new lease new tenants. And we’re having some success post quarter, I believe that we’ll have some encouraging news here for Q2 and by Q3 certainly.

But the renewals have been also slowed to to materialize, but we were able to finalize 60,000 square feet one. And we have a very large pipeline of those who are engaged with over 400,000 square feet of tenants. So, likewise, we believe we’ll have some good news there. But, yes, it was a disappointing first quarter for new leasing. We had more folks that were going to expect a choppy ride there, but we do believe that as the next two quarters materialize, we’ll have some good numbers.

Steve Demonski, Analyst: Thank you. Also another question in terms of leasing. More from a top down macro basis, which geographies currently depict greater strength in your portfolio?

John Donahue, President of FSP Property Management, Franklin Street Properties: So I think the best way to answer that question would be to say that the tenants in the market as far as total volume and demand, we’re seeing strong consistent activity in Texas, particularly in Houston. So for our building types in the energy corridor of Houston, we’re seeing solid strong demand that has continued to get stronger over the last year or so. Dallas is not quite as strong as Houston, but we are seeing a pickup of tenants in the market, particularly with larger users. Denver and Minneapolis, the downtown CBD markets are certainly better than they were six to twelve months ago and certainly better than they were a few years ago, But they are not quite as robust as the suburbs in Texas.

Steve Demonski, Analyst: Thank you. That was very helpful. I appreciate it.

George Carter, Chief Executive Officer, Franklin Street Properties: You’re welcome.

Kayla, Conference Operator: And there are no further questions at this time. George Carter, I’ll turn the call back over to you.

George Carter, Chief Executive Officer, Franklin Street Properties: Thank you, everyone, for listening to our earnings call, and we look forward to talking to you next quarter or with any information that occurs before that. Thank you again. Have a great day.

Kayla, Conference Operator: And this concludes today’s conference call. You may now disconnect.

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