Essex Property Trust

ESS

Market cap $17B

U.S. equity markets staged a broad rally in the holiday-shortened week, while benchmark interest rates dipped to the cusp of multi-year lows, as investors leaned into December rate cut expectations. Reports that Kevin Hassett- a close Trump ally- has emerged as the frontrunner to succeed Fed Chair Powell in 2026 further sharpened expectations for a more explicitly dovish policy approach. The "Hasset trade" revived appetite for long-duration and rate-sensitive equity sectors, as investors priced in a lower terminal-rate environment and a steeper path of 2026 policy accommodation.

U.S. equity markets dipped in a volatile week, while benchmark interest rates pulled back from one-month highs, as renewed anxiety over stretched AI-driven valuations collided with mounting monetary policy uncertainty. Public commentary from Fed officials revealed an unusually fractured committee, with a divide that was deepened further by a mixed slate of employment data via the long-delayed September payrolls report. Payrolls data showed that the U.S. economy added 119k jobs in September- better than estimates- but prior months were revised lower and the unemployment rate rose to four-year highs.

U.S. equity markets stumbled this week as unexpectedly hawkish Fed commentary clashed with fragile risk sentiment, muting investor relief over the deal to end the longest-ever government shutdown. December rate cut odds dipped below 50% after Fed officials firmly pushed back on rate-cut expectations, citing uneven inflation progress, pockets of financial-market froth, and the economic-data blackout. The S&P 500 finished flat, but hawkish commentary sparked renewed pressure on smaller-cap and rate-sensitive market segments, with the Mid-Cap 400 and Small-Cap 600 dipping 1%.

As Nvidia's 150% dividend hike last year showed, not even massive dividend increases can bring meaningful income if the original yield is too low. Fortunately, a handful of stocks already offer dividend yields that several times higher than the S&P 500 average of 1.14%.

U.S. equity markets posted mixed performance this week- while long-term yields jumped- after the Federal Reserve cut short-term rates for a second-straight meeting, but reigned in expectations for future cuts. Fed Chair Powell hawkishly pushed back on market expectations, saying that another cut in December was "far" from certain and highlighting "strongly differing views" within the committee. Market breadth was exceptionally narrow this past week as post-earnings gains from a handful of mega-cap technology stocks offset weekly declines from over 70% of the S&P 500 constituents.

Essex Property Trust, Inc. ( ESS ) Q3 2025 Earnings Call October 30, 2025 2:00 PM EDT Company Participants Angela Kleiman - President, CEO & Director Barb Pak - Executive VP & CFO Rylan Burns - Executive VP & Chief Investment Officer Conference Call Participants Nicholas Yulico - Scotiabank Global Banking and Markets, Research Division Nicholas Joseph - Citigroup Inc., Research Division Jeffrey Spector - BofA Securities, Research Division Sanketkumar Agrawal - Evercore ISI Institutional Equities, Research Division Austin Wurschmidt - KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc., Research Division Alexander Goldfarb - Piper Sandler & Co., Research Division Derrick Metzler - Morgan Stanley, Research Division Haendel St. Juste - Mizuho Securities USA LLC, Research Division Julien Blouin - Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., Research Division Robin Haneland - BMO Capital Markets Equity Research Richard Anderson - Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., Research Division Linda Yu Tsai - Jefferies LLC, Research Division Alex Kim - Zelman & Associates LLC Presentation Operator Good day, and welcome to Essex Property Trust Third Quarter 2025 Earnings Call. As a reminder, today's conference call is being recorded.

ESS posts Q3 core FFO above estimates and lifts its 2025 outlook, driven by steady revenues and NOI gains despite cost pressures.

While the top- and bottom-line numbers for Essex Property Trust (ESS) give a sense of how the business performed in the quarter ended September 2025, it could be worth looking at how some of its key metrics compare to Wall Street estimates and year-ago values.

Essex Property Trust (ESS) came out with quarterly funds from operations (FFO) of $3.97 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.96 per share. This compares to FFO of $3.91 per share a year ago.

SAN MATEO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE: ESS) (the “Company”) announced today its third quarter 2025 earnings results and related business activities. Net Income, Funds from Operations (“FFO”), and Core FFO per diluted share for the three and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2025 are detailed below.   Three Months Ended September 30,   Nine Months Ended September 30,     % %   2025 2024 Change 2025 2024 Change Per Diluted Share             Net Income $ 2.56 $.