Capital Senior Living Corp. will continue a stock repurchase program that allows the company to buy back up to $10 million of its common stock, the company announced Jan. 14. The existing stock repurchase program was last amended in December 2011, and approximately $9 million remains as part of the authorization.
“Our board of directors and senior management strongly believe that the company’s ability to generate substantial cash flows as well as its outstanding growth prospects associated with its near- and long-term strategy are not reflected by the company’s current stock price,” Lawrence A. Cohen, Capital Senior Living’s CEO, said in a statement. The company has experienced “substantial growth” in key financial and operating metrics and expects the growth to continue, he added.
Capital Senior Living operates 121 senior living communities in 23 states, with a total capacity for about 15,400 residents.
“We continue to see limited new supply and construction in our local markets, and our conversions of independent living units to assisted living and memory care units remain on schedule,” Cohen said. “Also, we intend to continue our disciplined and strategic acquisition program that increases our ownership of high-quality senior living communities, which we expect to result in meaningful increases in cash flow from operations, earnings and real estate value.”
Repurchases under the stock repurchase program will be made in open market or privately negotiated transactions, according to the company. The company’s existing cash balances will be used to pay for the repurchased shares.
As McKnight’s Senior Living previously reported, activist shareholder Schuster Tanger urged Capital Senior Living to hire an investment firm to enact major changes at the firm, including a possible sale, in December. He gave the company until mid-January to respond.
Tanger, a hedge fund operator who has been a co-managing member of Red Alder Master Fund since September 2012, maintains that the company remains undervalued and that selling it to a private-equity suitor or other buyer could increase the value of its stock.
