Douglas EmmettNYSE: DEI

Douglas Emmett, Inc. (NYSE:DEI ) Q3 2024 Earnings Conference Call November 5, 2024 2:00 PM ET Company Participants Stuart McElhinney - Vice President of Investor Relations Jordan Kaplan - President & Chief Executive Officer Kevin Crummy - Chief Investment Officer Peter Seymour - Chief Financial Officer Conference Call Participants Blaine Heck - Wells Fargo & Company Alexander Goldfarb - Piper Sandler Companies Michael Griffin - Citigroup Inc. Jeffrey Spector - Bank of America Steve Sakwa - Evercore Inc. Richard Anderson - Wedbush Securities Inc. Nicholas Yulico - Scotiabank John Kim - BMO Capital Markets Peter Abramowitz - Jefferies Group LLC Dylan Burzinski - Green Street Advisors, LLC Operator Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to Douglas Emmett's Quarterly Earnings Call.

The headline numbers for Douglas Emmett (DEI) give insight into how the company performed in the quarter ended September 2024, but it may be worthwhile to compare some of its key metrics to Wall Street estimates and the year-ago actuals.

Douglas Emmett (DEI) came out with quarterly funds from operations (FFO) of $0.43 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.41 per share. This compares to FFO of $0.45 per share a year ago.

In a post two months ago (“The Ultimate Example Of DEI“) I pointed out what appeared to be an extraordinary example of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Peloton Interactive, Inc. PTON.

Harley-Davidson lowered its revenue forecast for 2024 as stubborn inflation, high interest rates and consumer blowback from a DEI controversy impacted the motorcycle maker's sales.

The name brand bikemaker has seen sales slump amid rising uncertainty about the economy and policies. A conservative-led boycott against the company's DEI policies only added to Harley-Davidson's sales woes.

Douglas Emmett is an office REIT with 20% multifamily exposure exclusively focused on California and Hawaii. Performance so far in 2024 has been in line with the Vanguard Real Estate Index Fund ETF with the shares delivering a circa 12.7% total return. I expect the REIT to outperform going forward thanks to a 9.5x FFO multiple and a market-implied cap rate between 7% and 8.9% depending on the cash flow measure used.

Molson Coors plans to cut supplier diversity quotas and DEI-based training programs, and sever ties with the LGBTQ+ advocacy group Human Rights' Campaigns' Corporate Equality Index. The brewer's decision comes after a wave of retailers over the summer took a step back in their DEI efforts.

Molson Coors Beverage Co. has became the latest to say it was backing away from some of its diversity, equity and inclusion policies, after a handful of well-known companies announced similar retreats last week.