Sentiment Analysis of the earnings transcript to help figure out if there are any bullish or bearish sentiments that could be gathered from it. We're doing ML and AI based analysis on the earnings call to get some more insights.
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| Statement |
|---|
| They're in strong position |
| That resulted in a nice gain for us |
| And with respect to our current debt outstanding, we believe we are well protected should interest rates remain high |
| So we're strong in that regard |
| And you can't grow anything without the water, so we're in good shape there |
| The markets are good today, and so the guys who are growing almost everything these days is in good shape |
| And so we're great for farmers, while people also need to eat |
| So we're in good shape today |
| In 2023, that was really a good year for our Western portfolio regarding water |
| This marks the 33rd time we've raised our common dividend over the past 36 quarters, resulting in an overall increase of 55% over that period |
| And today I think we're all in good shape |
| But we've had good luck in that regard |
| And then 2024 now is off to a very positive start |
| And so that's good |
| If the rain events continue, we expect the state's water supply to allow for another year of great opportunity from farms in California, allowing us to leverage the projects and contracts secured in 2023 to acquire even more water rights |
| Overall demand for prime farmland growing berries and vegetables is stable to strong for almost all the areas where our farms are located, particularly along both coasts, either East or the West |
| So I think we're in great shape now, and I applaud the effort of our guys in getting enough water together so that we won't be in trouble |
| We seriously appreciate all the time you take to listen to our presentations and hope we can give you some really good news this time |
| So the rent goes up by whatever we've done for them and it's been working very well |
| So we're in great shape and be like one of those pipe companies down in the [terrain basis] (ph) where they take the oil out of the place and will be that hopefully with water as well |
| So we are very secure here |
| In the strawberry area, we have the largest strawberry grower, has our largest farm and does extremely well there |
| And the second part of investing in this stock is unlike gold or other alternative assets in that it's an active investment with cash flows to investors and believing we're better than a bond fund because we keep increasing the dividend whereas bonds are fixed |
| And so they're in a good position and I wish the rates would come down |
| We have good runoff programs |
| It's a nice introduction |
| And I hate to mention it too much, I'm afraid people will copy us and that is we've been able to take a lot of the water that's running off of these farms and in the -- into our farms and we are putting it into some vacant areas on our farm |
| We've got insurance that helps us out a lot |
| And we believe these are better indications of our operating results and allow better comparability of our period over period performance |
| So we're pretty well covered from every angle except from the problems that some of the tenants have gotten themselves into |
| Statement |
|---|
| It's the problem of the farmer in many of these cases that's giving us a problem |
| As we mentioned on the past several calls, we continue to be cautious with our new investments because the cost of capital, both borrowing cost that we have to pay and equity that we have to raise remains very high and the land prices are still too high to make sense in many of the acquisitions that we look at |
| There were real problems there |
| In total, these renewals are expected to result in a decrease of annual net operating income from those properties about $682,000 than the prior leases we had on it |
| For example, almond -- the almond marketplace was miserable for a while because we have a lot of almonds that are sold outside the United States and I've always believed that Spain and Italy had most of the almonds but in essence the United States is producing most of the almonds in the world today and sell to Spain and one area of the world was eating a lot of almonds and practically stopped for a while due to the worry of the pandemic |
| The lower yields were expected due to the fact that these crops were harvested at the end of a multi-year drought and of course the water landscape in California and the West in general has changed drastically since then |
| So as a result, acquisition activity remains slow for us and probably will for at least another couple of quarters |
| And total year-over-year impact on the operations as a result of these two and other tenant issues got sorted out during the year but decreased operating income by about $1.4 million for the fourth quarter and about $1.7 million for the year |
| Participation rents decreased primarily due to lower yields, coupled with lower pricing for last year's crops |
| So it's very difficult to keep an almond tree strong for the future |
| There's a group that's buying land above the capital of California and that's the worst land you've ever seen in your life for water |
| Primary drivers behind the decreases in AFFO were the lost revenues and increased expenses associated with properties that were either in the vacant, self-operated, or non-accrual status during portions of the year, as well as a decrease in the amount of participation rents recorded and an increase in dividends paid out to preferred shareholders during the year |
| Moving on to our operating results, for the fourth quarter we had net income of about $1.8 million and a net loss to common shareholders of $4.3 million, also per share |
| And we don't expect our farms to get hurt |
| Farming is a very difficult situation for almost everybody |
| And we've seen people tear down 15,000, 20,000 acres of almonds and pistachios because they don't have enough water to grow them |
| The farmer died |
| Overall, these valuations decreased by about $13 million from their previous valuations from about a year ago |
| They didn't have insurance on the trestles that these were on, and so as a result they had to take a small loss in essence |
| And they got in trouble |
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