COLD

Image source: The Motley Fool. Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026 at 8 a.m. ET Vice President, Investor Relations - Rich Leland Chief Executive Officer - Rob Chambers Chief Financial Officer - Chris Papa Operator: Greetings, and welcome to the Americold Realty Trust Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Rich Leland, Vice President, Investor Relations. Thank you. You may begin. Rich Leland: Good morning, and thank you for joining us today for Americold Realty Trust's Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. In addition to the press release distributed this morning, we have filed a supplemental financial package with additional detail on our results. These materials are available on the Investor Relations section of our website at www.americold.com. This morning's conference call is hosted by Americold's Chief Executive Officer, Rob Chambers, along with Chris Papa, our Chief Financial Officer. Management will make some prepared comments, after which we'll open up the call to your questions. Before we begin, let me remind you that management's remarks today may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, assumptions and beliefs as well as information available to us at this time and speak only as of the date they are made. Management undertakes no obligation to update publicly any of these statements in light of new information or future events. During this call, we will also discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures, including NOI, same-store NOI, core EBITDA, net debt to pro forma core EBITDA and AFFO, among others. The full definitions of these non-GAAP financial measures and reconciliations to the comparable GAAP financial measures are contained in the supplemental financial package available on the company's website. Please note that all warehouse financial results are in constant currency and reflect the second quarter 2026 same-store pool unless otherwise noted. Now I'll turn the call over to Rob for his prepared remarks. Robert Chambers: Thank you, Rich, and thank you all for joining our second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. I'm pleased to report that our team delivered another strong quarter. And this morning, I'd like to walk you through our financial results and some of the encouraging trends we are seeing across the industry. I will also highlight the significant progress we've made against each one of our 5 key priorities as we continue to build momentum and strengthen our foundation for future growth. Our second quarter results demonstrate 2 important trends. First, we are continuing to see ongoing signs of stabilization across the industry. And second, the resiliency of our business model, combined with strong execution, market share gains and continued progress against our key priorities has Americold well positioned to win in this environment. Starting with the financials. Second quarter AFFO per share came in ahead of expectations at $0.35 per share. Delivering on our financial commitments is paramount to this management team, and this marks the fourth consecutive quarter of AFFO per share that either met or exceeded analyst consensus. Similar to the first quarter, all key operating metrics materialized in line or better than our original outlook, further reinforcing our conviction that the industry continues to stabilize and our ability to gain share during the process. I'm particularly encouraged by the continued positive trends we are seeing in physical occupancy levels across our portfolio. We saw growth beginning in Q1 of this year, and this continued sequentially as we move through the second quarter. In a typical year, inventories are generally flat to slightly down from Q1 to Q2. However, we saw our physical occupancy increase over 200 basis points sequentially, and, perhaps even more importantly, inventories grew nearly 300 basis points on a year-over-year basis. While this is certainly encouraging regarding the broader industry trends, it is also evidence of our ability to leverage our scale and operational expertise to gain market share in this environment. Last year, we won a record amount of new business, and we're now seeing the benefits flow into our warehouses as inventory ramps from those new wins. Additionally, in the current environment, we believe we are winning more than our fair share of new business as some of the smaller capital-constrained players continue to struggle operationally and are beginning to exit the industry, while the level of new project announcements has slowed materially. Customers that may have given some of these new market entrants a try are coming back to Americold due to our strong history of service, reliability and operating excellence. From an economic occupancy perspective, we came into the year expecting some contraction as customers reevaluated their space requirements in the soft consumer demand environment. Here, too, we are seeing results come in ahead of expectations as economic occupancy was up year-over-year in the second quarter. Additionally, because of the increase in physical inventories, we saw the gap between physical and economic occupancy tighten by 240 basis points. The current 860 basis point gap reflects a healthier and more sustainable long-term level. While we are not waiting for a demand recovery, all of these trends point to an increasingly stable environment, and we continue to believe that we should see a return to more normalized seasonal trends as we progress throughout the year. Beyond occupancy, we were also encouraged to see that our pricing for the second quarter increased year-over-year for both storage and handling. While the environment remains competitive and many of the smaller players continue to use price as their only way to win new business, our commercial teams are executing extremely well and leading with the Americold value proposition. We believe that operating and service excellence will be even more important to customers in the future as the industry continues to stabilize and eventually returns to growth. You can see this reflected in both our churn rate, which remains low at 2.1% and in the consistency of our storage revenue from fixed commitments, which remained stable at 58% for the quarter. We continue to remain disciplined in our approach to pricing, prioritizing long-term value creation and contract quality over short-term volume gains. The fundamental benefits of the fixed commitment structure continue to provide a compelling value proposition with 100% of our top 25 customers, who account for over 50% of our total revenues, utilizing our fixed committed contract structure. Beyond our financial performance, I also want to highlight some of the significant accomplishments that our team delivered during the quarter to strengthen our foundation and set us up for long-term success. You will remember that we entered the year focused on 5 key priorities for the business. Since then, we have delivered meaningful progress in each of these areas. First is our initiative to delever the balance sheet. I'm very pleased that during the quarter, we received regulatory approval to proceed with the closing of our previously announced $1.3 billion strategic joint venture with EQT. Our teams are working through the final closing conditions, and we expect to have the transaction completed in the third quarter. They have been a fantastic partner and truly understand the mission-critical nature of our assets and the embedded growth opportunities across our portfolio. I look forward to expanding this platform in the future with new opportunities, and I believe that having a strong capital partner like EQT will be a strategic advantage for Americold going forward. Chris will provide additional details in a few minutes, but we expect to use the proceeds from this transaction to repay approximately $1.1 billion of our outstanding debt, resulting in a substantial reduction in our total leverage. In addition, during the second quarter, we also amended our revolving credit agreement to extend the maturity date out to 2031. As a result of these actions, we are making significant progress towards improving our balance sheet and enhancing both our liquidity position and financial flexibility. Maintaining our investment-grade rating is an important objective for us, and Moody's recently reaffirmed our rating and outlook, further validating the progress we have made. The second of our 5 key priorities is to create value from our real estate through active portfolio management. During the quarter, we sold 2 previously idled facilities for total proceeds of approximately $27 million. Both facilities will be removed from the cold storage industry, eliminating 31,000 pallet positions. Since launching this initiative last year, we have exited a total of 10 underperforming facilities and have an additional 15 that have either been idled and are awaiting exit or actively being marketed for sale. Additionally, last quarter, we expanded this initiative to include a review of our more recent development projects. Based on the projected return assumptions, we announced late last month that we have mutually agreed with the customer to wind down operations at our Lancaster and Plainville facilities and strategically reallocate the capital to other more productive uses. From a capital allocation perspective, these properties were not meeting our return expectations and would have required additional investments in capital, time and resources to fully ramp. Their current contribution to NOI was negligible. And in conjunction with this closure, we have reached a broader commercial agreement with the customer to extend and expand their business at other assets across our network. We recorded a $298.8 million noncash impairment charge in the second quarter, and we'll be classifying these facilities as held for sale starting in the third quarter and have already listed both buildings for sale. In total, we have the potential for substantial future cash proceeds from buildings we intend to exit with several hundred million dollars of properties currently listed for sale. These actions reflect our commitment to allocating capital to assets and opportunities with the strongest risk-adjusted returns. And by cleaning up the portfolio, we expect to have a healthier and more productive mix of assets to generate long-term sustainable returns for shareholders. One area where we continue to see interesting growth opportunities is in underpenetrated sectors as we continue to extend our capabilities into adjacent and complementary areas of the temperature-controlled supply chain. This is our third key priority. And already this year, we have successfully won new business that established our retail footprint in Europe as well as expanding our QSR and convenience capabilities in Asia Pac. We are also continuing to see new business wins in adjacent sectors, including e-commerce and pet food. During the quarter, we renewed our long-standing relationship with Good Ranchers, a direct-to-consumer protein provider that has grown rapidly over the past several years. They have expanded from a single site to now using 5 facilities across our network to distribute products nationwide to their growing customer base. These wins reinforce our operational expertise in handling fast-turning product and is aligned with the broader growth trends in direct-to-consumer business and the humanization of pets that our top customers have discussed on their public earnings calls. These initial entries deepen our integration with customers and enhance our value proposition beyond traditional storage and handling services, further demonstrating our ability to pivot to new growth opportunities when customer demand trends shift. While still early, we believe these opportunities will drive incremental growth over time and further differentiate Americold from its competitors, especially the smaller players who lack the resources to invest in the capabilities and technology necessary to support customers in these more operationally intensive sectors in the market. Our fourth priority is to focus our development spend on a limited set of lower-risk customer-driven projects. Last quarter, we announced a new $163 million plant adjacent project dedicated to McCain Foods and anchored by a 20-year fixed commitment agreement. We were also excited to announce the June grand opening of our facility in Port St. John, Canada, which was developed in partnership with both CPKC and DP World. This integrated import/export facility is the first of its kind globally to combine the rail, port and cold storage expertise of CPKC, DP World and Americold in a single location. This is a unique solution that creates a new way of moving temperature-sensitive products between inland production regions and international markets. Similar to our focus on adjacent categories, these strategic partnerships help diversify our business and provide additional unique growth opportunities for Americold that are difficult to replicate. Finally, our previously announced expansion project in Dallas-Fort Worth remains on budget and on track for an opening later this year. Our fifth priority is to rightsize our cost structure and transition to a more efficient overhead model while maintaining our focus on operational excellence. Earlier this year, we completed the first phase of this initiative, which was designed to deliver approximately $30 million in annual savings, primarily in indirect labor. Thus far, we have reduced our indirect headcount by 400 positions, which is over 10% globally. During the second quarter, we announced our fit-for-purpose initiative, which builds on this progress with an additional $25 million of targeted savings by the end of Q1 2027, focused primarily on SG&A and our support functions. This initiative is intended to unlock efficiencies enabled by our prior investments in labor and technology to drive clearer accountability, faster execution and stronger performance across the organization. We are already starting to see the early benefits of these actions as SG&A was down year-over-year this quarter, more than offsetting the impacts of ongoing wage inflation across the business. Finally, I'm also pleased to announce that in early July, MSCI upgraded our ESG rating by 4 categories from BB to AA. This reflects the continued maturity of Americold's sustainability program and the cumulative impact of several years of focused work in this area. We have maintained a consistent approach centered on operational efficiency, governance, risk management and transparent disclosure. Congratulations to our ESG team on reaching this milestone and positioning Americold as a leader in sustainability. I am incredibly proud of our team and the momentum that we are building across each of our priorities. In an environment that continues to challenge many in our industry, our scale, operational expertise and customer relationships are allowing us to differentiate and win in this market. As a result of our outperformance in the first half of the year and outlook for continued positive trends, we are increasing our full year AFFO guidance to a range of $1.26 to $1.32 per share, an increase of $0.04 at the midpoint of the range. This is after absorbing an estimated $0.05 of dilution from the EQT joint venture as our strong execution in the base business has positioned us to more than offset any dilutive impacts from that transaction. Next, I would like to turn it over to Chris, so he can discuss the reporting changes you can expect to see in Q3 from the joint venture as well as the additional details of our financial outlook. Chris? Christopher Papa: Thanks, Rob, and good morning, everyone. Before walking through the details of our outlook for the year, I want to clearly address comparability as our reported revenue, NOI and occupancy levels will change going forward due to the change in portfolio composition from the previously announced joint venture transaction with EQT. Importantly, underlying operating performance continues to improve in line with the trends we are seeing across the business. As Rob mentioned earlier, we remain on track to close on the joint venture later this quarter. As we communicated during our last call, Americold will contribute 12 assets to the joint venture with a total value of approximately $1.3 billion. As a reminder, this represents a blended cap rate of approximately 7% or nearly $3,300 per pallet position. Starting with our third quarter reporting, we anticipate recasting the same-store pool, and these 12 assets will come out of the total warehouse count and segment results. For your convenience and comparability, we have provided a pro forma version of the historical performance trend table on Page 31 of the supplemental to reflect the recast of the pool. You will remember that this is structured as a 70%-30% joint venture. So going forward, we will record our 30% interest in the JV's net income under the line item titled Income Loss from investments in partially owned entities on our P&L. In addition, we will earn an annual management fee plus receive reimbursement for pass-through operating expenses such as power, labor and other expenses associated with operating the facilities. Both the management fee and the reimbursement for the operating expenses will be recorded on a new line item within total revenues, and there will be other nuances in the accounting for the JV, which we will outline once the transaction closes. Similar to our disclosures for other minority-owned joint ventures, we will also add summarized financial information to the supplemental beginning in the third quarter, and our 30% share of earnings from this venture will be included in AFFO. As I mentioned earlier, as a result of the transaction, you will see lower reported results such as revenue and NOI as assets contributed to the JV will no longer be consolidated in those metrics. From a balance sheet perspective, the book value of the JV assets and related accumulated depreciation will be removed upon sale. We intend to use the proceeds from the transaction to repay approximately $1.1 billion of our outstanding debt. This includes all of our 2026 through 2028 U.S. dollar-denominated debt maturities. At the end of Q2, our total debt was $4.3 billion. So this $1.1 billion paydown would reduce our outstanding borrowings by approximately 25% and lower our leverage ratio by around 3/4 of a turn, providing us with increased financial flexibility and moving us closer to our target of 6x or less. The anticipated dispositions of our idled and held-for-sale assets in the future will also allow us to make additional progress towards this target. Now I'd like to discuss the details of our revised outlook for the year. As you think about our updated outlook, it is important to distinguish between reported results and the underlying performance trends. While our reported revenue and NOI will be lower as a result of the joint venture, the year-over-year operating trends are largely unchanged and in most cases, improving relative to original expectations. For modeling purposes, we are assuming that the transaction will close in the third quarter and note that the same-store guidance metrics assume the removal of the sites contributed to the venture. For same-store revenue, reported levels will be lower by approximately $230 million due to the updated asset base. However, underlying growth trends within the portfolio remain consistent with or modestly ahead of our prior expectations. Assuming the third quarter close for the JV, we now expect same-store revenue to land between $2.03 billion and $2.09 billion for 2026 or up slightly year-over-year at the midpoint based on the revised same-store pool compared to our expectations coming into the year for a revenue decline of approximately 2.5%. Similarly, same-store NOI will also be impacted as a result of the JV, but operating trends in the base business remain similar and are supported by our ongoing cost initiatives. We are now expecting same-store NOI in the range of $660 million to $695 million, with core EBITDA in the range of $570 million to $600 million. For interest expense, we are expecting approximately $155 million to $160 million for the full year, reflecting the benefits of the $1.1 billion debt paydown that I mentioned earlier. Our planning assumptions coming into the year assume that we would see some pressure on both pricing and occupancy. At that time, we thought that economic occupancy could be flat to down 300 basis points for the year and pricing would be down by a blended rate of between 100 to 200 basis points. As Rob mentioned earlier, we have seen signs of continued stabilization in the industry and the results for the first half of the year have surpassed our original expectations. As a result, we are now forecasting these trends to continue for the remainder of the year. While the EQT joint venture is expected to create a headwind to AFFO of approximately $0.05 this year, we believe that the improvements in the base business will allow us to more than offset that impact. Given our performance in the first half of the year and the continued stabilization of industry trends, we are raising our full year AFFO guidance to $1.26 to $1.32 per share, an increase of $0.04 at the midpoint and more than offsetting the projected dilution from the JV. You will note that we have also included a comparison in the supplemental and in our investor deck that includes an unadjusted comparison for your ease in identifying the expected JV impacts. As I consider where the business is today, we are seeing strong evidence that our actions against the 5 key priorities that we outlined at the start of the year are delivering tangible results. We have made significant progress towards strengthening the balance sheet, advancing our portfolio management efforts, maintaining a disciplined approach to development and took meaningful actions to optimize our cost structure while continuing to service customers and win new business. We are not relying on a recovery in demand to create value. Instead, we are laser-focused on executing against the priorities that are within our control. The combination of disciplined execution, a stronger financial position and a gradually stabilizing industry reinforce our confidence in the outlook we have provided. And we believe that Americold is well positioned to deliver sustainable growth and long-term value for our shareholders. With that, I'll turn the call back over to Rob for some closing remarks. Rob? Robert Chambers: Thank you, Chris. As I mentioned in my opening remarks, we are encouraged by the continued signs of stabilization that we are seeing across the industry, and I believe that Americold is well positioned to succeed in this environment. Our results in the first half of the year have come in ahead of expectations, and we are delivering against the commitments we communicated to you at the end of last year. Our financial results are beginning to reflect that execution, largely because of the strong team we have assembled. The momentum we're seeing across the business is a direct result of the dedication and execution of our associates around the world, and I remain confident that we have the right people and the right strategy to continue delivering for our customers and shareholders. Having now been in the CEO role for almost a full year, I think it's a great time to reflect back on the work we've accomplished over that time, 4 straight quarters either meeting or beating expectations, executing on a strategic joint venture with a strong partner to strengthen our balance sheet and provide future growth capital, strengthening our management team with the hiring of Chris as our CFO and the strong real estate experience that he brings to the company, actively managing our portfolio to identify the highest and best use for our properties while exiting low-performing sites, winning significant new business around the world that expands our capabilities into attractive new sectors and streamlining our cost structure to a more efficient overhead model. Looking ahead, our priorities remain unchanged: disciplined execution, advancing each of our 5 strategic priorities and delivering on our financial commitments to shareholders. We believe the actions we have taken over the past year have strengthened Americold's foundation and positioned the company for sustainable long-term growth and value creation. I remain confident in our team, our strategy and our ability to continue creating value for our customers and shareholders, and I look forward to updating you on our continued progress in the quarters ahead. With that, operator, we are ready to open the line for questions. Operator: [Operator Instructions] The first question is from Michael Goldsmith from UBS. Michael Goldsmith: Physical occupancy increased more than 200 basis points sequentially despite a period that's typically flat to down seasonally. It was also up 300 basis points year-over-year. So can you help us break that down a bit? How much of this improvement do you view as structural market share gains versus a temporary benefit from customer consolidation and inventory rebuilding? And then also, what gives you confidence that these occupancy gains can be sustained through the back half of the year and into 2027? Robert Chambers: Yes. Thanks, Michael. Really appreciate the question. We were very pleased with performance really across all of our key metrics for the quarter, but physical occupancy was certainly a highlight. As you mentioned, it was up 200 basis points sequentially, nearly 300 basis points year-over-year. Why is that? I think, first, we said at the beginning of the year that our customers had reached a point where their inventory was in line with demand, meaning there really wasn't a need for any further destocking like we had seen over the last few years. So that was a very encouraging message that we heard earlier in the year. It pointed to stabilization from an occupancy standpoint. Why is it increasing? I think it's increasing really because of our strategy and because of our execution. And a big part of that execution was winning new business. We've talked a lot about it over the last 18 months. We've won a record amount of new business. And now we're seeing those volumes flow into our network. We also said, and this was one of our 5 key priorities that we were going to go after underpenetrated sectors. We've had great success there. We brought our retail capabilities to Europe and won new business with several large grocery retailers there. And our physical occupancy in that region is up significantly year-over-year. In Australia, we won the convenience business that's now ramping up and providing nice growth in that region. And then I think if I bring it to North America, it really is a share gain story here in North America, which is something that I'm very proud of. We took a different strategy 18 months ago than most of the rest of the market. We watched most industry participants cut rate as a way to drive volume, and we took a different approach. We said we were going to let service win the day. We held steady on rate. You see that in our numbers every quarter, and we knew that, that would come at the cost of some volume. But now we're in a position where we're already paid appropriately for the service that we're being provided. Our customers are realizing the value of that best-in-class service, and they're coming back to Americold organically and our churn rate is really low. So I think it's great execution. It took a lot of conviction, but our strategy is clearly working. So I think it's sustainable market share gains and new business wins that's driving that physical occupancy growth. Operator: The next question is from Michael Griffin from Evercore ISI. Michael Griffin: I know Chris mentioned in his prepared remarks that the updated operating expectations expect trends to continue in the back half of the year. I was wondering if you can quantify that. Does that imply sort of flattish economic occupancy and maybe slightly positive growth on pricing? And then maybe, Rob, as you look at the business more holistically, the economic to occupancy spread is about 860 bps in the quarter. Is that a good run rate that we should think about going forward? And I realize you're not relying on a recovery in demand, but do you think that this is a business that can get back to, call it, low-ish 80s economic occupancy over time? Do you think there could be a pickup? Just curious some thoughts there as it relates to the ultimate trajectory of economic occupancy as well. Robert Chambers: Sure. I'll hit on the second 2 and ask Chris to talk a little bit about guide expectations. I mean, as it relates to the spread between physical and economic occupancy, we were really pleased to see that spread tighten within the quarter. Obviously, some growth in economic occupancy with outsized growth in physical occupancy resulted in that gap coming in kind of high single digits. And I do think that, that's a relatively stable expectation. There's maybe another 100 basis points or so. But I think a high single-digit gap is very reasonable and something that we're comfortable with and our customers are comfortable with. As it relates to where occupancy can go longer term, certainly, we think occupancy can get back into the 80s. We were there for a long time. We think there's the opportunity to get back there. We're doing, I think, all the right things to kind of manage the right split between being disciplined in pricing and also going out and trying to win new business. And I think our strategy is working and that you can absolutely expect the ability for us to bring that economic occupancy back up into the 80s over time. So we're excited about that opportunity. Obviously, the results get pretty compelling when we get to that point, and that's something that we're focused on doing. Christopher Papa: Yes. And then I think for just expectations, I think we really see things somewhat sustaining for the rest of the year, maybe picking up a little bit. It's really within the range of our expectations for occupancy on a same-store basis to be improved from where we were. We originally said 0 to 300 down. Now we're thinking it's probably going to be a little bit tighter, maybe 100 up to 200 down for the year. And then on revenue, we see that somewhat flat to maybe slightly positive for the year. Operator: The next question is from Todd Thomas from KeyBanc Capital Markets. Todd Thomas: Just wanted to follow up on some of that. I guess, Rob, it sounds like the majority of the increase in physical occupancy is new business because I think physical would be flat or lower sequentially otherwise. Are you seeing any signs of inventory restocking from your customers at this point? And similarly, throughput improved sequentially in 2Q was higher year-over-year. Was that largely attributable to new customer wins as well and just having more volume ramping up and flowing through the warehouses? Or are you seeing an increase in throughput more broadly? And what's the expectation for throughput to remain positive year-over-year as we think about the updated guidance in the second half? Robert Chambers: Thanks, Todd. On the throughput piece, yes, it was great to see throughput up for the quarter. That's largely driven by new wins. I mean we were very intentional in terms of going out and trying to bring our retail capability more broadly across the portfolio, some big wins in Europe. We've been talking for a while about the convenience store distribution wins that are material in our Asia Pac business. Those are very fast-turning product. Growth in our e-commerce business has been outsized relative to the rest of the portfolio, another fast-turning type of business. So I would say it's the new business wins that are driving the higher throughput, which is very impactful for us. And yes, I mean, the physical occupancy gains are something that was a mix of both market share and new business wins, driven by really, really strong execution. So we would expect that to continue, and we're encouraged to see those trends all heading in the right direction. Operator: The next question is from Viktor Fediv from Scotiabank. Viktor Fediv: Chris, can you provide us with an update on the bridge from warehouse same-store NOI to total NOI? Because I understand that it now includes equity JV, but non-same-store NOI appears to be contributing more meaningfully to guidance than originally contemplated. I think you said $15 million to $30 million as of Q4 update. And also, what share did Lancaster and Plainville represented in that number at the beginning of the year and now? Christopher Papa: Yes. I mean, as far as a bridge, I mean, if you look at the guidance we provided, I think you can see the change period-over-period. I would focus on the unadjusted columns to get a real view of what's happening with both same-store revenues and same-store NOIs. What you're seeing in the actual guidance we provided is the JV properties would be coming out of that. If you look at the detail back on 31, you'll see the breakout there of the JV properties, and it largely is similar. There is some non-same-store within the JV pool that is also coming out, which offsets that. So -- but overall, I would say our non-same-store properties have come down a bit and are reflected in the guidance. And some of that is just due to the market conditions, things just taking a little bit longer in this environment from a lease-up standpoint. So we can certainly provide more color offline if needed. Operator: The next question is from Blaine Heck from Wells Fargo. Blaine Heck: When you think about food costs and inflation, can you just comment on how you're feeling about the latest statistics and trends along with your forward expectations or what you're hearing from clients about promotions? Are there any specific product areas that you expect to see better stabilization and others that continue to suffer most from inflation? Robert Chambers: Sure. Thanks. It's still a challenging environment, right? I mean I'm really proud of the execution that we've been able to achieve in this environment because there hasn't been a lot of -- there hasn't been a big change since the beginning of the year in terms of some of the -- whether it be food inflation or input costs or the environment that a lot of lower-end consumers are dealing with. So much of that is still consistent with what we described at the beginning of the year. Our customers are still dealing with higher input costs for their product, which makes it hard for them to kind of roll back products or prices sustainably. Consumers haven't gotten a whole lot of relief just yet from inflation or higher interest rate costs, costs at the pump. So I think it's still a challenging environment out there, but there are some green shoots. I mean, I think -- the more that you dig in, you see that, as an example, wage rate growth for lower-income consumers has been growing pretty significantly over the course of the last quarter or so. That's really good news for us to see that there are some wage rate gains there in the lower end. I think our customers are spending a lot on promotional activity to try to drive volume. And then the other thing that is an important factor, and this helps with safety stock is that customers continue to find ways to innovate to adapt to shifting consumer trends. So we've seen a lot of new activity, whether it is higher protein type SKUs, higher fiber type SKUs, lower serving size type SKUs, all of that drives incremental safety stock even if it doesn't necessarily drive overall volume sales at the grocery store. So I think we're hanging in there. We're not counting again on a big demand recovery or inflection throughout the back half of the year to achieve our guide. I think if we were to see that, that would represent upside to our plan and upside into next year. What we're really focused on is controlling what we can control. And you can see we're doing a great job of that. At the end of the day, for us to be able to have a quarter where we say our physical occupancy is up, our economic occupancy is up, our throughput is up, our storage rate is up, our handling rate is up and our G&A is down. I just -- I think it's phenomenal execution. Operator: The next question is from Brendan Lynch from Barclays. Brendan Lynch: Just a couple on the Lancaster and Plainville assets. Can you talk a little bit about the prospective buyers, if you anticipate these will be run as cold storage facilities going forward? And how we should think about your development of automated facilities going forward as well? Robert Chambers: Yes. We're actively marketing those 2 buildings for sale. It's a broad base of folks that would be potentially interested in these facilities. It could be end users of the buildings themselves. There's the opportunity that it could be used for a combination of both cold and dry going forward. So I would say a broad base of users and the buildings are already listed for sale. And I think there's the opportunity for meaningful proceeds that could be reallocated to other projects. And I think we've really strengthened our development platform over the last few years. We've brought in great talent, great expertise. You see that in our track record here on recent development projects where they've all been delivered on time and on budget. So our focus on development remains unchanged other than to say that it really going forward is more refined to lower risk projects from an underwriting standpoint with regard to leasing up and customer-dedicated projects. But our ability to execute there has increased significantly over the last few years as we've strengthened our team. Operator: The next question is from Nick Thillman from Baird. Nicholas Thillman: Maybe following up on those lines regarding just the Ahold termination. I mean, what concessions did you get out of the deal? Obviously, there's no termination fee associated with it. Like how many projects did they renew in? And what terms did you kind of get extended on those existing fixed commitments? And then just overall, as we think about the development yields, how much of the change that you guys now are disclosing the updated ones with those 2 assets being moved out of that pool, is the yield change strictly from that mix shift? Or is there some other -- I know Chris had mentioned that he was going to look a little bit more at the yields overall in the underwriting. Has there been any other shift in the overall yields on the current pool as well? Robert Chambers: Yes. I'm not going to get into a ton of detail around the commercial relationship other than to say that the relationship is very, very strong. So this was a decision that we made kind of mutually, and we were able to -- or we will be relocating a significant amount of the volume that was in our Pennsylvania facility today to another location within the Americold network. We're able to extend existing agreements that we already had in other locations and expand other agreements in existing locations. So that relationship remains very, very strong. As it relates to the development yields going forward on other projects, all the delivery dates, the upfront construction costs, all of that remain very consistent across the rest of the projects that were in the schedule. It's a testament to our team's ability to deliver these projects on time and on budget. I think we took a little bit more of a conservative view on some of the rate expectations, just given the current market environment relative to when some of these were underwritten. But outside of that, no other real changes. Operator: The next question is from Alexander Goldfarb from Piper Sandler. Alexander Goldfarb: Okay. Just a question as you guys are expanding into the QSR, pets, floral, candy and all these sort of adjacent sectors, who are you finding is the competition? Is it like big, like entrenched competitors? Or is it a lot of small mom-and-pops? Just trying to get a sense as you guys expand what sort of competitive set you're going to run into. Robert Chambers: Yes, across the board, to be honest with you. I mean, we see the opportunity to take share from smaller competitors, both in the traditional cold storage space and that are more specialized in whether it be pharma, floral, pet food. I would say that there's the opportunity for some of this business to be outsourced. So in many instances, some of this is actually done by the end customer, and there's a pretty compelling value proposition in case for a lot of this business to be outsourced. And then in other instances, it is larger, more entrenched competitors where a lot of our customers don't want to deal with those larger entrenched competitors anymore and are looking for new ways to, kind of, change and shift the business model. And in those instances, Americold is here to help as well. So it's really coming from across the board and early success in many of those instances is very encouraging for us. Operator: The next question is from Michael Carroll from RBC Capital Markets. Michael Carroll: Rob or Chris, maybe can you discuss how the EQT JV impacts the same-store trends? I know it looks like the unadjusted same-store NOI growth is up about 250 basis points versus your prior guidance to about down 2.2%. Does EQT move these numbers around? Like, for example, is the EQT JV assets expected to be above or below that specific target that's implied in guidance? Christopher Papa: Yes. I mean if you look at the recast pool, you'll see that we're now forecasting same-store revenues for the pool of, call it, around negative 1.1% to a positive 1.8% and then on the same-store NOI, it could be around negative 5% to just positive 0.1%. If you look at the Page 31, you can kind of back into the results for the JV itself. And if you look at that, I think it is somewhat representative. It's for the full year, it should be around down 1% or so overall on revenue. So within the range and on NOI could be down about 60 basis points. So again, inside the range. Remember that, that pool is a little bit more of a defensive pool, a little bit more highly occupied. So I think that's representative of what you're seeing here. But the information, if you go back to 30 and 31, you do have all the information, I think, needed there to help reconcile as well as if you look at the unadjusted numbers we provided, we really try to provide that clarity for you to back into those numbers that I just went through. Operator: The next question is from Craig Mailman from Citi. Craig Mailman: Maybe big picture, you guys are talking a lot about things normalizing, your peers saying the same thing, which is all positive, right? You guys had basically a $0.10 gross guidance increase offset by the EQT JV. But underneath, right, like a lot of that $0.10 increase was the G&A savings, call it, 80% plus, looking at the $25 million depending on timing. Your fixed commits, the renewals are going 12 to 18 months versus 5 years. You took that big impairment on the Ahold assets and didn't extract a ton of lease term fees from them. I'm just trying to get a sense of where we are in the power dynamic of landlord versus tenant because it feels like the tenants are comfortable kind of rolling the dice and not locking in and you guys are still in -- and landlords generally, not you guys specifically, but landlords are still in the protect occupancy phase. So correct me if I'm wrong in this viewpoint or put some clarity around kind of what you think the business cycle, where we are in that recovery stage? Robert Chambers: Yes. Yes, Craig, I mean, let me correct one thing. I mean the guidance increase is a result of our occupancy outperforming expectations, our pricing on storage outperforming expectations, our pricing on handling outperforming expectations and our throughput outperforming expectations. The guidance on the G&A is flat from our prior original guide to where we are today. We are going to get after a lot of the savings that we discussed, but a lot of those savings, as we talked about, will be things that we do between now and the first quarter of next year. So that's not what's driving the favorability. It's the underlying business trends. I think where we are in the cycle is very much consistent with what we've been saying now for the last few quarters, which is we're in a stabilized environment where demand and inventories are aligned and that demand is off of a relatively low base. We've not seen significant improvement in the environment just yet. I think there's no reason to believe that, that won't be something that happens over time, but we're not counting on that to achieve our guidance for this year or to put ourselves in a good position for next year. We're focused on what we can control and the results speak to great performance and great execution there. So I think we can win in this current environment. And I think that if it gets better from here, that represents upside to both our guide and to where we could go in 2027 and beyond. So yes, we're comfortable winning in this environment, and we've been doing it now going back for the past year. Operator: The next question is from Mike Mueller from JPMorgan. Michael Mueller: Just a couple of quick number questions here. One, your CapEx guidance, how come it stay steady and just doesn't decline as your NOI does post EQT transaction? And then just can you just talk a little bit about the power cost, just what's driving those components and the time to pass through? Christopher Papa: Yes. I mean we held our CapEx guidance where it is. Obviously, as we're prioritizing projects during the year, we felt comfortable just leaving that as is even with the joint venture. And then from a power cost standpoint, I think we are similar to last quarter, seeing some cost pressures there across the board on rate. I mean we do have mechanisms to pass through adjustments for increased costs. I mean, obviously, those mechanics can vary, but that is something that we try to do and keep on top of in all our contracts. Robert Chambers: Yes, Mike, you saw storage rate per pallet flip from slightly down in Q1 to up in Q2. And the reality is that's largely driven by power surcharges. So we have a lot of operational opportunities that we focus on to try to keep power from escalating beyond our expectations. But in the current environment, it's a headwind year-over-year. And so we just -- we have to pass that through, and that's what you're seeing on the storage rate per pallet. Operator: The next question is from Rob Simone from Compass Point. Robert Simone: Kind of a longer-term thought or trying to understand the longer-term thinking here. So after this JV and especially if you guys are talking about potentially getting back into the 80s on physical and economic occupancy, there's this path towards where at least your consolidated balance sheet can get sub-6x leverage pretty quickly. So up until now, it's been executing and getting to that point and you guys have been doing that. So kind of what comes next? After you hit that mark, how do you think about priorities for capital allocation beyond that once you're more conservatively levered? Robert Chambers: Yes. Thanks for the question, Rob. I mean I think you're right. So this EQT JV was obviously a huge step in the right direction to get the balance sheet more stable. And I think from here, it gives us flexibility. We can really continue to delever and get to where we want to go by kind of more hitting more singles and doubles from here than having to do anything else significant. I think between organic growth, I think between cost savings in the P&L. I think our development projects where we've already spent the capital, and it will be EBITDA that comes online without necessarily having to make any other investment, all of that helps delever the balance sheet meaningfully. From there, from a capital allocation perspective, I mean, we're going to prioritize things that create the most shareholder value. I think there still is a development opportunity or there's still significant development opportunities out there with customers that we need to be focused on to continue to support their growth. I think that as we see the industry potentially have some dislocation, there could be the opportunity for some strategic M&A to the extent that seller expectations are realistic. So there's a lot of -- no shortage of opportunities, I would say, once we get into a position where we feel comfortable. And we're well on our way, thanks in large part to everything I just discussed. Operator: The next question is from Vince Tibone from Green Street. Vince Tibone: Can you just provide a little bit additional color on kind of what actually took place with the Ahold facilities? Kind of just what made them unique and ultimately caused them to fail versus other automated facilities that you recently developed that were successful and fully operational today? Robert Chambers: Yes. I mean, look, Vince, what I'd say there is we recently expanded the review from a portfolio management standpoint to include development projects. These were buildings that were designed back in 2019 by prior management teams very, very complex retail automation. They don't look anything like the type of automation that you see in most facilities to support traditional food manufacturers. So there are a lot of unique requirements. And Pennsylvania was operational. It was just not ramping in a manner that met our return expectations or some of the service level agreements to our customer. And so we made a mutual decision there to unwind that. And Connecticut was the same kind of sister facility. So we made the decision with both. At the same time, we think it was prudent to reallocate this capital to other high-performing assets and opportunities, and we have a lot of very successful automated facilities all around our portfolio. And this is part of having a healthier and more productive mix of assets going forward, and that's exactly what we got accomplished through this. So I'm excited about the relationship with our customer going forward and glad to have these behind us. Operator: This concludes the question-and-answer session as well as today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation. Before you buy stock in Americold Realty Trust, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Americold Realty Trust wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut are built for long-term growth and could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $403,337!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,334,946!* That performance is why people listen. With a track record of beating the S&P 500 by 4x, Stock Advisor offers a distinct advantage. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built for the long haul. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 13, 2026. This article is a transcript of this conference call produced for The Motley Fool. While we strive for our Foolish Best, there may be errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in this transcript. As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your use of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company's SEC filings. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Americold (COLD) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript was originally published by The Motley Fool

Interested in Americold Realty Trust Inc.? Here are five stocks we like better. Americold raised its 2026 AFFO guidance to $1.26–$1.32 per share after second-quarter AFFO of $0.35 per share exceeded expectations. Management cited improving occupancy, pricing, throughput and cost controls. Physical occupancy rose more than 200 basis points sequentially and nearly 300 basis points year over year, while improved customer wins and fixed-commitment contracts supported revenue stability and pricing. The planned $1.3 billion EQT joint venture is expected to close in the third quarter, with proceeds earmarked to repay about $1.1 billion of debt, reducing borrowings by roughly 25% and lowering leverage. REITs Set for a 2026 Rebound? 7 Top Picks as Rate Cuts Approach Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD) raised its full-year adjusted funds from operations outlook after reporting second-quarter performance that Chief Executive Officer Rob Chambers said exceeded expectations, citing improving occupancy, pricing and throughput trends across its temperature-controlled warehouse network. The company increased its 2026 AFFO guidance to $1.26 to $1.32 per share, a $0.04 increase at the midpoint. Chambers said the higher outlook comes despite an estimated $0.05 per-share dilutive effect from Americold’s planned joint venture with EQT. → Meta’s Earnings Drop Shows Wall Street Wants More Than Ad Growth 3 Stocks to Hedge Against Inflation’s Persistence Second-quarter AFFO totaled $0.35 per share, ahead of expectations, according to Chambers. He said the result marked the fourth consecutive quarter in which the company met or exceeded analyst consensus. Chambers said physical occupancy increased by more than 200 basis points sequentially in the second quarter, despite what is typically a flat-to-down seasonal period for inventories. Physical occupancy also increased nearly 300 basis points from a year earlier. → 4 Oil and Gas ETF Plays as Prices Stay Sky-High 5 High-Yielding Oversold Stocks with Bullish Ratings Economic occupancy rose year over year, while the gap between physical and economic occupancy narrowed by 240 basis points to 860 basis points. Chambers characterized the current gap as a healthier and more sustainable long-term level. The company attributed the physical-occupancy improvement to new customer wins, market-share gains and volumes ramping into its facilities. Chambers said Americold won a record amount of new business last year and is now seeing inventory associated with those wins enter its network. → Sandisk Just Delivered a Blowout Quarter—Here's Why the Stock Is Falling He also pointed to customer demand for service reliability as smaller, capital-constrained competitors face operational challenges. Americold’s churn rate was 2.1% during the quarter, while 58% of storage revenue came from fixed commitments. All of the company’s top 25 customers, representing more than half of total revenue, use its fixed-commitment contract structure. Storage and handling pricing both increased year over year in the quarter. In response to questions, Chambers said higher power surcharges were a major factor in the improvement in storage revenue per pallet, as the company passes through increased energy costs under contractual mechanisms. Chief Financial Officer Chris Papa said Americold now expects same-store economic occupancy for the full year to range from roughly 100 basis points higher to 200 basis points lower than the prior year. The company had previously expected economic occupancy to be flat to down as much as 300 basis points. Papa said same-store revenue is expected to be approximately flat to slightly positive for the year. Americold received regulatory approval during the quarter to proceed with its previously announced $1.3 billion strategic joint venture with EQT and expects the transaction to close in the third quarter. Under the transaction, Americold will contribute 12 assets with a total value of about $1.3 billion to a 70/30 joint venture. Papa said the assets represent a blended capitalization rate of about 7%, or nearly $3,300 per pallet position. The company plans to use proceeds from the transaction to repay about $1.1 billion of debt, including all U.S. dollar-denominated debt maturities due from 2026 through 2028. Americold had total debt of $4.3 billion at the end of the second quarter. Papa said the planned repayment would reduce outstanding borrowings by about 25% and lower leverage by roughly three-quarters of a turn, moving the company closer to its target of net debt to pro-forma Core EBITDA of 6 times or less. Moody’s recently reaffirmed Americold’s credit rating and outlook, Chambers said. Beginning in the third quarter, the 12 contributed properties will be removed from Americold’s consolidated warehouse count, revenue, NOI and same-store pool. The company will report its 30% share of joint-venture net income through income or loss from investments in partially owned entities, while management fees and operating-expense reimbursements will be recorded in revenue. Americold sold two previously idled facilities during the quarter for approximately $27 million. The sales removed 31,000 pallet positions from the cold-storage industry. Since beginning its portfolio-management initiative last year, the company has exited 10 underperforming facilities and has another 15 idled, awaiting exit or actively being marketed for sale. The company also agreed with a customer to wind down operations at its Lancaster and Plainville facilities, which were developed for Ahold. Americold recorded a $298.8 million non-cash impairment charge in the second quarter related to the properties and expects to classify them as held for sale beginning in the third quarter. Chambers said the facilities were designed in 2019 with highly complex retail automation and were not ramping in a way that met Americold’s return expectations. The company has listed both buildings for sale and expects to reallocate capital to other opportunities. Americold also reached a broader commercial agreement with the customer to extend and expand business at other network locations. Looking ahead, the company said it will focus development spending on lower-risk, customer-driven projects. Its $163 million plant-adjacent project for McCain Foods is backed by a 20-year fixed commitment agreement, while its Dallas-Fort Worth expansion remains on schedule and on budget for opening later this year. Americold completed the first phase of its cost-reduction initiative, targeting approximately $30 million of annual savings primarily through indirect labor reductions. The company reduced indirect headcount by 400 positions, or more than 10% globally. It has also launched its Fit for Purpose initiative, which targets an additional $25 million in savings by the end of the first quarter of 2027, primarily in SG&A and support functions. SG&A declined year over year in the second quarter, more than offsetting wage inflation, Chambers said. Same-store revenue guidance: $2.03 billion to $2.09 billion. Same-store NOI guidance: $660 million to $695 million. Core EBITDA guidance: $570 million to $600 million. Interest expense guidance: approximately $155 million to $160 million. AFFO guidance: $1.26 to $1.32 per share. Chambers said Americold is not relying on a broad recovery in consumer demand to meet its outlook, instead emphasizing customer wins, disciplined pricing, portfolio management, cost actions and balance-sheet improvement. Americold Realty Trust is a real estate investment trust specializing in temperature-controlled warehousing and logistics solutions. The company owns, operates, and develops a global network of cold storage facilities designed to support the storage, handling, and distribution of perishable products. Services include blast freezing, repacking, labeling, cross-docking, and transportation management, all integrated to streamline clients' cold chain operations and help ensure product quality and safety from origin to point of consumption. With roots dating back to the early 20th century, Americold has expanded through strategic acquisitions and facility development to become one of the world's largest publicly traded cold storage providers. This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected]. The article "Americold Realty Trust Q2 Earnings Call Highlights" was originally published by MarketBeat. View MarketBeat's top stocks for August 2026.

This article first appeared on GuruFocus. AFFO per Share: $0.35 for Q2 2026, ahead of expectations; marks the fourth consecutive quarter meeting or exceeding analyst consensus. Full-Year AFFO Guidance: Raised to $1.26-$1.32 per share, an increase of $0.04 at the midpoint, after absorbing an estimated $0.05 dilution from the EQT joint venture. Physical Occupancy: Increased over 200 basis points sequentially in Q2; inventories grew nearly 300 basis points year-over-year. Economic Occupancy: Up year-over-year in Q2; the gap between physical and economic occupancy tightened by 240 basis points to 860 basis points. Pricing: Increased year-over-year for both storage and handling in Q2. Churn Rate: Remained low at 2.1%. Storage Revenue from Fixed Commitments: Stable at 58% for the quarter. Same-Store Revenue Guidance: Expected to land between $2.03 billion and $2.09 billion for 2026, up slightly year-over-year at the midpoint. Same-Store NOI Guidance: Expected in the range of $660 million to $695 million. Core EBITDA Guidance: Expected in the range of $570 million to $600 million. Interest Expense Guidance: Approximately $155-$160 million for the full year. Impairment Charge: $298.8 million non-cash impairment charge in Q2 related to the Lancaster and Plainville facilities. Facility Sales: Sold two previously idled facilities for total proceeds of approximately $27 million, eliminating 31,000 pallet positions. Debt Reduction: Plans to repay approximately $1.1 billion of outstanding debt from the EQT joint venture proceeds, reducing total debt by about 25%. Cost Savings: Reduced indirect headcount by 400 positions (over 10% globally); targeting an additional $25 million in savings by end of Q1 2027. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 9 Warning Signs with COLD. Is COLD fairly valued? Test your thesis with our free DCF calculator. Release Date: August 06, 2026 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. Americold Realty Trust Inc (NYSE:COLD) reported second quarter AFFO per share of $0.35, ahead of expectations, marking the fourth consecutive quarter of meeting or beating analyst consensus. Physical occupancy increased over 200 basis points sequentially and nearly 300 basis points year-over-year, driven by market share gains and new business wins. Pricing for both storage and handling increased year-over-year in the second quarter, with the storage rate per pallet flipping from slightly down in Q1 to up in Q2. The company is making significant progress on its balance sheet, with the $1.3 billion EQT joint venture expected to close in Q3, enabling a $1.1 billion debt paydown and reducing leverage by around three-quarters of a turn. Americold Realty Trust Inc (NYSE:COLD) raised its full-year 2026 AFFO guidance to $1.26-$1.32 per share, an increase of $0.04 at the midpoint, more than offsetting the estimated $0.05 dilution from the EQT joint venture. The company is executing well on its cost-saving initiatives, having reduced indirect headcount by 400 positions (over 10% globally) and announced an additional $25 million in targeted savings through its 'Fit for Purpose' initiative. Americold Realty Trust Inc (NYSE:COLD) is gaining market share in underpenetrated sectors, including new retail business in Europe, QSR and convenience capabilities in AsiaPac, and wins in e-commerce and pet food. The company's churn rate remains low at 2.1%, and 58% of storage revenue comes from fixed commitments, with 100% of its top 25 customers utilizing this structure. Americold Realty Trust Inc (NYSE:COLD) is actively managing its portfolio, having exited 10 underperforming facilities and listed several hundred million dollars of properties for sale, including the Lancaster and Plainville facilities. The company's ESG rating was upgraded by MSCI from BB to AA, reflecting the maturity of its sustainability program. Americold Realty Trust Inc (NYSE:COLD) reported a $298.8 million non-cash impairment charge in the second quarter related to the wind-down of its Lancaster and Plainville facilities. The company's reported revenue and NOI will be lower going forward as the 12 assets contributed to the EQT joint venture will no longer be consolidated in those metrics. The EQT joint venture is expected to create a headwind to AFFO of approximately $0.05 per share in 2026. The company continues to face a challenging consumer demand environment, with customers still dealing with higher input costs and inflation, which limits the potential for a significant demand recovery. Power costs remain a headwind year-over-year, requiring the company to pass through surcharges to customers, which can impact pricing dynamics. The company's economic occupancy gap between physical and economic occupancy remains at 860 basis points, though it has tightened by 240 basis points. Americold Realty Trust Inc (NYSE:COLD) is still in a 'protect occupancy' phase, with tenants comfortable rolling the dice on shorter-term renewals (12-18 months) rather than locking in longer-term commitments. The company's non-same-store properties have underperformed expectations, with lease-up taking longer in the current market environment. The Lancaster and Plainville facilities were complex retail automation projects that failed to meet return expectations and required additional capital, time, and resources to fully ramp. The company is not relying on a demand recovery to achieve its guidance, indicating that the broader industry environment remains soft and uncertain. Q: Physical occupancy increased more than 200 basis points sequentially despite a period that's typically flat to down seasonally, and was up 300 basis points year-over-year. How much of this improvement is structural market share gains versus a benefit from customer consolidation and inventory rebuilding? What gives you confidence these gains can be sustained? A: CEO Rob Chambers attributed the gains to a mix of market share wins and new business, driven by strong execution. He noted that customers had reached a point where inventory was in line with demand, ending the destocking cycle. The company's strategy of holding steady on pricing while competitors cut rates has led to organic customer returns and low churn. New business wins in underpenetrated sectors like retail in Europe and convenience in AsiaPac are also contributing. He believes these are sustainable market share gains, not just a temporary rebound. Q: Can you quantify the updated operating expectations for the back half of the year? Does it imply flattish economic occupancy and slightly positive pricing? Is the 860 basis point gap between physical and economic occupancy a good run rate, and can the business get back to low-80s economic occupancy over time? A: CFO Chris Papa stated that expectations are for trends to sustain or slightly improve, with same-store occupancy now expected to be down only $100 to $200 basis points for the year (improved from the original 0 to 300 down), and revenue expected to be flat to slightly positive. CEO Rob Chambers noted the 860 basis point gap is a stable and comfortable level, potentially tightening by another 100 basis points. He expressed confidence that economic occupancy can return to the 80s over time, which would be compelling for results. Q: It sounds like the majority of the increase in physical occupancy is from new business. Are you seeing any signs of inventory restocking from customers? Was the throughput improvement largely attributable to new customer wins, and what is the expectation for throughput to remain positive year-over-year? A: CEO Rob Chambers confirmed that the throughput increase was largely driven by new wins, particularly in fast-turning product categories like retail in Europe, convenience store distribution in AsiaPac, and e-commerce. He stated that physical occupancy gains are a mix of market share and new business wins driven by strong execution, and the company expects these positive trends to continue. Q: Can you provide an update on the bridge from warehouse same-store NOI to total NOI, as non-same-store NOI appears to be contributing more meaningfully to guidance? What share did Lancaster and Plainville represent in that number? A: CFO Chris Papa directed attention to the unadjusted columns in the supplemental to see the true performance. He noted that non-same-store properties have come down a bit and are reflected in the guidance due to market conditions and lease-up taking longer. He offered to provide more color offline, but the JV properties are largely similar to the overall pool performance. Q: How are you feeling about food costs and inflation trends, and what are you hearing from clients about promotions? Are there specific product areas expected to see better stabilization? A: CEO Rob Chambers described the environment as still challenging, with customers dealing with high input costs and consumers not yet seeing relief. However, he noted green shoots, including significant wage rate growth for lower-income consumers, increased promotional activity by customers, and innovation in product SKUs (higher protein, higher fiber, lower serving sizes) which drives incremental safety stock. He emphasized the company is not counting on a demand recovery to achieve guidance, but any improvement would represent upside. Q: Can you talk about the prospective buyers for the Lancaster and Plainville assets, and how should we think about your development of automated facilities going forward? A: CEO Rob Chambers stated the buildings are actively marketed for sale to a broad base of potential buyers, including end users or those who might use them for a combination of cold and dry storage. He reaffirmed the company's focus on development, but refined to lower-risk, customer-dedicated projects. He highlighted the strengthened development team and a track record of delivering projects on time and on budget. Q: Regarding the wind-down of the Lancaster and Plainville facilities, what concessions did you get out of the deal? How many projects did the customer renew, and has the change in development yields shifted strictly from the mix shift or other underwriting changes? A: CEO Rob Chambers declined to provide specific commercial details but confirmed the relationship remains strong. A significant amount of volume from the Pennsylvania facility will be relocated to another AmeriCold network location, and existing agreements were extended and expanded. On development yields, he noted that delivery dates and construction costs remain consistent across other projects, but the company took a more conservative view on rate expectations given the current market environment. Q: As you expand into adjacent sectors like QSR, pets, and floral, who is the competition? Are they large entrenched competitors or small mom-and-pops? A: CEO Rob Chambers said the competition comes from across the board. The company sees opportunities to take share from smaller competitors in traditional cold storage and specialized sectors. Some business is currently done in-house by end customers, presenting outsourcing opportunities. In other instances, customers are looking to move away from larger, entrenched competitors, and AmeriCold is positioned to help. Q: How does the EQT JV impact the same-store trends? Are the EQT JV assets expected to be above or below the specific target implied in guidance? A: CFO Chris Papa explained that the recast pool shows same-store revenues forecasted at negative 1.1% to positive 1.8%, and same-store NOI at negative 5% to positive 0.1%. The JV pool itself is expected to be down around 1% on revenue and down about 60 basis points on NOI, which is inside the overall range. He noted the JV pool is a more defensive, highly occupied pool, and pointed to pages 30 and 31 of the supplemental for full reconciliation. Q: It feels like tenants are comfortable rolling the dice and not locking in long-term fixed commitments. Where are we in the power dynamic of landlord versus tenant, and where are we in the recovery stage of the business cycle? A: CEO Rob Chambers corrected the premise that the guidance increase is driven by G&A savings, clarifying it is driven by outperformance in occupancy, pricing, and throughput. He reiterated that the industry is in a stabilized environment with demand and inventories aligned, albeit off a low base. The company is focused on controlling what it can control and winning in For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.

Delivered $0.35 Adjusted FFO Per Share and Raises Full-Year Guidance Year-Over-Year Revenue and Occupancy Growth Reflect Continued Industry Stabilization Advanced Strategic Joint Venture to Strengthen Balance Sheet and Enhance Financial Flexibility ATLANTA, Aug. 06, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Americold Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: COLD) (the “Company”), a global leader in temperature-controlled logistics, ensuring safe, efficient food movement worldwide, today announced financial and operating results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2026. "Americold delivered another quarter of strong results, with Adjusted FFO of $0.35 per share exceeding our expectations and total revenues increasing year-over-year. We were encouraged by ongoing growth in both physical occupancy and pricing, as industry fundamentals show continued signs of stabilization. While consumer demand remains relatively flat, our results demonstrate the strength of our platform, the value of our customer relationships, and our ability to win new business through operational excellence and disciplined commercial execution." "Importantly, we are not waiting for a market recovery to drive value creation. We entered the year with a clear set of priorities focused on strengthening the business, and we made meaningful progress on each of them during the second quarter. We are advancing towards closing our joint venture with EQT, which we expect will significantly improve our balance sheet, enhance our financial flexibility and provide a strategic platform to pursue future developments. Our initiatives to actively manage our portfolio, improve our cost structure and expand customer relationships, demonstrate that our strategy is delivering tangible results and that Americold can win in the market.” "Our team continues to execute well, and the strength of our first-half operating performance, combined with the improving trends we are seeing across the business, gives us the confidence to increase our full-year Adjusted FFO guidance to a range of $1.26 to $1.32 per share. Importantly, our improved outlook more than offsets the projected dilution from the joint venture transaction and demonstrates the resilience of the underlying business. We remain focused on disciplined execution, prudent capital allocation, and delivering reliable service to our customers, and we believe Americold is well positioned to generate sustainable long-term growth and value creation for our shareholders." Second Quarter 2026 Highlights Total revenues of $662.9 million, a 1.9% increase from $650.7 million in Q2 2025 and an increase of 0.6% on a constant currency basis. Net loss of $342.8 million, or $1.19 loss per diluted share, as compared to a net income of $0.01 per diluted share in Q2 2025 primarily due to impairment charges recognized during the quarter. Global Warehouse segment same store revenues increased 2.2% on an actual basis and increased 1.1% on a constant currency basis as compared to Q2 2025. Global Warehouse same store services margin decreased to 14.8% in Q2 2026 from 15.2% in Q2 2025. Global Warehouse segment same store NOI decreased 1.5%, or 2.2% on a constant currency basis, as compared to Q2 2025. Adjusted FFO of $102.0 million, or $0.35 per diluted share, a 2.8% decrease from Q2 2025 Adjusted FFO per diluted share of $0.36. Core EBITDA remained flat at $159.1 million in Q2 2026 and Q2 2025, with a 0.6% decrease on a constant currency basis. Core EBITDA margin of 24.0%, decreased from 24.4% in Q2 2025. 2026 Outlook The table below includes the details of our annual guidance as of August 6, 2026 which have been updated to include the projected impacts of the joint venture which was announced on May 7, 2026 and is expected to close during the Company’s fiscal third quarter. The Company’s guidance is provided for informational purposes based on current plans and assumptions and is subject to change. The ranges for these metrics do not include the impact of acquisitions, dispositions, or capital markets activity beyond that which has been previously announced. We are not able to provide forward-looking guidance for certain financial data that would make a reconciliation from the most comparable GAAP measure to non-GAAP financial measure for forward-looking Warehouse Segment Same Store Revenues and NOI, Total Company NOI, Core EBITDA, and Adjusted FFO per share without unreasonable effort. This is due to unpredictable nature of relevant reconciling items from factors such as acquisitions, divestitures, impairments, natural disaster events, restructurings, debt issuances that have not yet occurred, or other events that are out of our control and cannot be forecasted. The impact of such adjustments could be significant. Investor Webcast and Conference Call The Company will hold a webcast and conference call on Thursday, August 6, 2026 at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss its second quarter 2026 results. A live webcast of the call will be available via the Investors section of Americold Realty Trust’s website at www.americold.com. To listen to the live webcast, please go to the site at least fifteen minutes prior to the scheduled start time in order to register, download and install any necessary audio software. Shortly after the call, a replay of the webcast will be available for 90 days on the Company’s website. The conference call can also be accessed by dialing 1-877-407-3982 or 1-201-493-6780. The telephone replay can be accessed by dialing 1-844-512-2921 or 1-412-317-6671 and providing the conference ID#13761099. The telephone replay will be available starting shortly after the call until August 20, 2026. The Company’s supplemental package will be available prior to the conference call in the Investors section of the Company’s website at http://ir.americold.com. During the conference call, the Company may discuss and answer questions concerning business and financial developments and trends that have occurred after quarter-end. The Company’s responses to questions, as well as other matters discussed during the conference call, may contain or constitute information that has not been disclosed previously. Second Quarter 2026 Total Company Financial Results As of January 1, 2026, the Company's former Third-Party Managed reportable segment has been included in the Warehouse reportable segment. All prior period comparative financial information has been recast to reflect the revised segment structure. Total revenues for the second quarter of 2026 were $662.9 million, a 1.9% increase from $650.7 million in the same quarter of the prior year, primarily due to an increase in transportation services revenues, a slight increase in our same store warehouse pool driven by rate increases, and favorable foreign exchange rate movements, partially offset by lower revenue from the Company's non-same store pool attributable to portfolio management initiatives, including the sale or exit of certain sites during the trailing twelve-month period. For the second quarter of 2026, Global Warehouse segment revenues were $603.6 million, an increase of $0.9 million, or 0.2% on an actual basis, and a decrease of 0.9% on a constant currency basis. The actual increase was principally driven by favorable foreign exchange rate movements, incremental revenue from recently completed developments in our Australian operations, and a 0.9% increase in our physical occupied pallet positions. This increase was partially offset by a 1.0% decrease in throughput pallets and a slight decline in fixed commitment storage contracts during the second quarter of 2026 compared to the same period in the prior year. Global Warehouse segment contribution (“NOI”) was $201.7 million for the second quarter of 2026, as compared to $202.9 million for the second quarter of 2025, a decrease of $1.2 million, or 0.6% on an actual basis and a decrease of 1.3% on a constant currency basis. Global Warehouse segment margin was 33.4% for the second quarter of 2026, a 30 basis point decrease compared to the second quarter of 2025. The decrease in NOI for the Global Warehouse segment was primarily driven by higher energy costs during the second quarter of 2026 as compared to the second quarter of 2025, partially offset by the increase in Global Warehouse segment revenues, as noted above. Total NOI for the second quarter of 2026 was $212.7 million, an increase of 0.5% (0.3% decrease on a constant currency basis) from the same quarter of the prior year. This increase was primarily related to an increase in Transportation segment NOI driven by higher volumes across our Transportation network. For the second quarter of 2026, the Company reported a net loss of $342.8 million, or a net loss of $1.19 per diluted share, compared to net income of $1.5 million, or net income of $0.01 per diluted share, for the comparable quarter of the prior year. This decline was principally driven by a $309.6 million impairment charge during the second quarter of 2026 primarily associated with a mutual agreement with a customer to wind-down operations at our Lancaster, PA and Plainville, CT facilities. The decline in net income was also attributable to an unfavorable $19.5 million change in Total income tax expense, a $12.5 million increase in Depreciation and amortization expense associated with recently completed developments and a $8.4 million decline in Net gain from sale of real estate as compared to the second quarter of 2025. Core EBITDA was $159.1 million in both the second quarter of 2026 and the second quarter of 2025. On a constant currency basis, Core EBITDA decreased 0.6%, primarily due to the factors impacting net loss noted above. For the second quarter of 2026, Core FFO was $50.4 million, or $0.18 per diluted share, compared to $75.8 million, or $0.27 per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2025. For the second quarter of 2026, Adjusted FFO was $102.0 million, or $0.35 per diluted share, compared to $103.6 million, or $0.36 per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2025. Please see the Company’s supplemental financial information for the definitions and reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to the most comparable GAAP financial measures. Balance Sheet Activity and Liquidity As of June 30, 2026, the Company had total liquidity of approximately $719.8 million, including cash and available capacity on its revolving credit facility and outstanding letters of credit. Total net debt outstanding was approximately $4.4 billion (inclusive of approximately $213.0 million of financing leases/sale lease-backs and exclusive of unamortized deferred financing fees). Unsecured debt comprises 95.2% of the Company’s total debt as of June 30, 2026. At quarter end, net debt to pro-forma Core EBITDA (based on trailing twelve months pro-forma Core EBITDA) was approximately 7.3x. During the three months ended June 30, 2026, the Company amended its revolving credit agreement to extend the maturity date to June of 2030 with two six month options to renew past that date. Inclusive of this amendment, the Company’s unsecured debt has a remaining weighted average term of 4.4 years, inclusive of extensions that the Company has the option to utilize, and carries a weighted average contractual interest rate of 4.1%. As of June 30, 2026, approximately 64.8% of the Company’s total debt outstanding was at a fixed rate, inclusive of hedged variable-rate for fixed-rate debt. Dividend On May 21, 2026, the Company’s Board of Directors declared a dividend of $0.23 per share for the second quarter of 2026, which was paid on July 15, 2026, to common stockholders of record as of June 30, 2026. About the Company Americold (NYSE: COLD) is a global leader in temperature-controlled logistics and real estate, supporting the safe, efficient movement of food worldwide. With 224 operating facilities across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and South America totaling approximately 1.4 billion refrigerated cubic feet—we connect producers, processors, distributors, and retailers. Leveraging deep industry expertise, advanced technology, and sustainable practices, Americold delivers reliable cold storage and transportation solutions that create lasting value for customers and communities. Non-GAAP Measures We use the following non-GAAP financial measures as supplemental performance measures of our business: NAREIT FFO, Core FFO, Adjusted FFO, NAREIT EBITDAre, Core EBITDA, Core EBITDA margin, net debt to pro-forma Core EBITDA, segment contribution (NOI) and margin, same store revenues and NOI, certain constant currency metrics, total enterprise value, and maintenance capital expenditures. Definitions of these non-GAAP metrics are included in our quarterly financial supplement, and reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures to their most comparable US GAAP metrics are included herein. Each of the non-GAAP measures included in this press release has limitations as an analytical tool and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for an analysis of the Company’s results calculated in accordance with GAAP. In addition, because not all companies use identical calculations, the Company’s presentation of non-GAAP measures in this press release may not be comparable to similarly titled measures disclosed by other companies, including other REITs. Forward-Looking StatementsThis press release contains statements about future events and expectations that constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on our beliefs, assumptions and expectations of our future financial and operating performance and growth plans, taking into account the information currently available to us. These statements are not statements of historical fact. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause our actual results to differ materially from the expectations of future results we express or imply in any forward-looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance on such statements. Factors that could contribute to these differences include the following: failure to execute on growth strategies and opportunities; geopolitical conflicts, including the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, and any related or resulting disruptions, including increasing energy costs; rising inflationary pressures, increased interest rates and operating costs; national, international, regional and local economic conditions, including impacts and uncertainty from trade disputes and tariffs on goods imported to the United States and goods exported to other countries; periods of economic slowdown or recession; labor and power costs; labor shortages; our relationship with our associates, the occurrence of any work stoppages or any disputes under our collective bargaining agreements and employment related litigation; the impact of supply chain disruptions; risks related to rising construction costs; risks related to expansions of existing properties and developments of new properties, including failure to meet budgeted or stabilized returns within expected time frames, or at all, or the impairment of any of our properties; uncertainty of revenues, given the nature of our customer contracts; acquisition risks, including the failure to identify or complete attractive acquisitions or failure to realize the intended benefits from our recent acquisitions; risks related to any failure to consummate our joint venture with EQT on the terms or timeline currently anticipated, or at all, due to the failure to satisfy closing conditions, obtain necessary approvals or consents, or other factors beyond our control; risks related to any failure to achieve the anticipated benefits, synergies or returns from our joint venture with EQT, including as a result of unanticipated costs or liabilities, difficulties in integrating joint venture operations, or the failure of the joint venture to perform in accordance with our expectations; difficulties in expanding our operations into new markets and products; uncertainties and risks related to public health crises; a failure of our information technology systems, systems conversions and integrations, cybersecurity attacks or a breach of our information security systems, networks or processes; risks related to implementation of the new ERP system; risks related to defaults or non-renewals of significant customer contracts; risks related to privacy and data security concerns, and data collection and transfer restrictions and related foreign regulations; changes in applicable governmental regulations and tax legislation; risks related to current and potential international operations and properties; actions by our competitors and their increasing ability to compete with us; changes in foreign currency exchange rates; the potential liabilities, costs and regulatory impacts associated with our in-house trucking services and the potential disruptions associated with our use of third-party trucking service providers for transportation services to our customers; liabilities as a result of our participation in multi-employer pension plans; risks related to the partial ownership of properties, including our JV investment; risks related to natural disasters; adverse economic or real estate developments in our geographic markets or the temperature-controlled warehouse industry; changes in real estate and zoning laws and increases in real property tax rates; general economic conditions; risks associated with the ownership of real estate generally and temperature-controlled warehouses in particular; possible environmental liabilities; uninsured losses or losses in excess of our insurance coverage; financial market fluctuations; our failure to obtain necessary outside financing on attractive terms, or at all; risks related to, or restrictions contained in, our debt financings; decreased storage rates or increased vacancy rates; the potential dilutive effect of our common stock offerings, the cost and time requirements as a result of our operation as a publicly traded REIT; and our failure to maintain our status as a REIT. Words such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “continues,” “estimates,” “expects,” “goal,” “objectives,” “intends,” “may,” “opportunity,” “plans,” “potential,” “near-term,” “long-term,” “projections,” “assumptions,” “projects,” “guidance,” “forecasts,” “outlook,” “target,” “trends,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “will” and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements may contain such words. Examples of forward-looking statements included in this press release include, but are not limited to, those regarding our 2026 outlook, and statements about the joint venture transaction with EQT. We qualify any forward-looking statements entirely by these cautionary factors. Other risks, uncertainties and factors, including those discussed under “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, and other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, could cause our actual results to differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statements we make. We assume no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future except to the extent required by law. Contacts:Americold Realty Trust, Inc.Investor RelationsTelephone: 678-459-1959Email: [email protected] Second Quarter 2026 Global Warehouse Segment Results As of January 1, 2026, the Company's former Third-Party Managed reportable segment has been included in the Warehouse reportable segment. All prior period comparative financial information has been recast to reflect the revised segment structure. The Company's Third-Party Managed sites are included within the same store warehouse pool. The following tables present revenues, contribution (NOI), margins, and certain operating metrics for our global, same store, and non-same store warehouses for the three and six months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025. Notes and Definitions We use the following non-GAAP financial measures as supplemental performance measures of our business: NAREIT FFO, Core FFO, Adjusted FFO, NAREIT EBITDAre, Core EBITDA, Core EBITDA margin, net debt to pro-forma Core EBITDA, segment contribution (NOI) and margin, same store revenues and NOI, certain constant currency metrics, total enterprise value, and maintenance capital expenditures. We calculate NAREIT funds from operations, or NAREIT FFO, in accordance with the standards established by the Board of Governors of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, or NAREIT. NAREIT defines FFO as net income or loss determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP, excluding gains or losses from sales of previously depreciated operating real estate and real estate related assets, plus specified non-cash items, such as real estate asset depreciation and amortization, impairment charges on real estate related assets, and our share of reconciling items for partially owned entities. We believe that NAREIT FFO is helpful to investors as a supplemental performance measure because it excludes the effect of real estate related depreciation, amortization and gains or losses from sales of real estate or real estate related assets, all of which are based on historical costs, which implicitly assumes that the value of real estate diminishes predictably over time. Since real estate values instead have historically risen or fallen with market conditions, NAREIT FFO can facilitate comparisons of operating performance between periods and among other equity REITs. We calculate core funds from operations, or Core FFO, as NAREIT FFO adjusted for the effects of extraordinary items as defined under U.S. GAAP including Net loss (gain) on sale of non-real estate related assets; Transactions, strategic initiatives and other costs, net; Impairment of long-lived assets (excluding certain real estate related assets); Gain on termination of derivative instruments; Foreign currency exchange loss (gain); Project Orion deferred costs amortization; Our share of reconciling items related to partially owned entities; and Gain from sale of partially owned entity. We believe that Core FFO is helpful to investors as a supplemental performance measure because it excludes the effects of certain items which can create significant earnings volatility, but which do not directly relate to our core business operations. We believe Core FFO can facilitate comparisons of operating performance between periods, while also providing a more meaningful predictor of future earnings potential. However, because NAREIT FFO and Core FFO add back real estate depreciation and amortization and do not capture the level of maintenance capital expenditures necessary to maintain the operating performance of our properties, both of which have material economic impacts on our results from operations, we believe the utility of NAREIT FFO and Core FFO measures of our performance may be limited. We calculate adjusted funds from operations, or Adjusted FFO, as Core FFO adjusted for the effects of Amortization of deferred financing costs and pension withdrawal liability; Amortization of below/above market leases; Straight-line rent adjustment; Deferred income tax expense; Stock-based compensation expense; Non-real estate related depreciation and amortization; Maintenance capital expenditures; and Our share of reconciling items related to partially owned entities. We believe that Adjusted FFO is helpful to investors as a meaningful supplemental comparative performance measure of our ability to make incremental capital investments in our business and to assess our ability to fund distribution requirements from our operating activities. NAREIT FFO, Core FFO and Adjusted FFO are used by management, investors and industry analysts as supplemental measures of operating performance of equity REITs. NAREIT FFO, Core FFO and Adjusted FFO should be evaluated along with U.S. GAAP Net (loss) income and Net (loss) income per common share - diluted (the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP measures) in evaluating our operating performance. NAREIT FFO, Core FFO and Adjusted FFO do not represent net income or cash flows from operating activities in accordance with U.S. GAAP and are not indicative of our results of operations or cash flows from operating activities as disclosed in our Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations (Unaudited) and Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (Unaudited) included in our quarterly and annual reports. NAREIT FFO, Core FFO and Adjusted FFO should be considered as supplements, but not alternatives, to our Net (loss) income or Net cash provided by operating activities as indicators of our operating performance. Moreover, other REITs may not calculate FFO in accordance with the NAREIT definition or may interpret the NAREIT definition differently than we do. Accordingly, our NAREIT FFO may not be comparable to FFO as calculated by other REITs. In addition, there is no industry definition of Core FFO or Adjusted FFO and, as a result, other REITs may also calculate Core FFO or Adjusted FFO, or other similarly-captioned metrics, in a manner different than we do. We reconcile NAREIT FFO, Core FFO and Adjusted FFO to Net (loss) income, which is the most directly comparable financial measure calculated in accordance with U.S. GAAP. We calculate NAREIT EBITDA for Real Estate, or NAREIT EBITDAre, in accordance with the standards established by the Board of Governors of NAREIT, defined as, Net (loss) income before Depreciation and amortization; Interest expense; Income tax expense; Net gain from sale of real estate; and Adjustment to reflect share of EBITDAre of partially owned entities. NAREIT EBITDAre is a measure commonly used in our industry, and we present NAREIT EBITDAre to enhance investor understanding of our operating performance. We believe that NAREIT EBITDAre provides investors and analysts with a measure of operating results unaffected by differences in capital structures, capital investment cycles and useful life of related assets among otherwise comparable companies. We also calculate our Core EBITDA as NAREIT EBITDAre further adjusted for Transactions, strategic initiatives and other costs, net; Loss from investments in partially owned entities; Impairment of long-lived assets; Foreign currency exchange loss (gain); Stock-based compensation expense; Gain on termination of derivative instruments; Net (gain) loss on real estate related asset disposals; Net loss (gain) on sale of non-real estate related assets; Project Orion deferred costs amortization; Reduction in EBITDAre from partially owned entities; and Gain from sale of partially owned entity. We believe that the presentation of Core EBITDA provides a measurement of our operations that is meaningful to investors because it excludes the effects of certain items that are otherwise included in NAREIT EBITDAre but which we do not believe are indicative of our core business operations. We calculate Core EBITDA margin as Core EBITDA divided by Total revenues. NAREIT EBITDAre and Core EBITDA are not measurements of financial performance or liquidity under U.S. GAAP, and our NAREIT EBITDAre and Core EBITDA may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies. You should not consider our NAREIT EBITDAre and Core EBITDA as alternatives to Net (loss) income or Net cash provided by operating activities determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Our calculations of NAREIT EBITDAre and Core EBITDA have limitations as analytical tools, including: these measures do not reflect our historical or future cash requirements for maintenance capital expenditures or growth and expansion capital expenditures; these measures do not reflect changes in, or cash requirements for, our working capital needs; these measures do not reflect the interest expense, or the cash requirements necessary to service interest or principal payments, on our indebtedness; these measures do not reflect our tax expense or the cash requirements to pay our taxes; and although depreciation and amortization are non-cash charges, the assets being depreciated will often have to be replaced in the future and these measures do not reflect any cash requirements for such replacements. Net debt is calculated using total debt outstanding less cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash. Net debt to proforma Core EBITDA is calculated using total debt outstanding less cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash divided by pro-forma and/or Core EBITDA. If applicable, we calculate pro-forma Core EBITDA as Core EBITDA further adjusted for acquisitions, divestitures, exited properties and properties classified as held for sale. The pro-forma adjustment for acquisitions reflects the Core EBITDA for the period of time prior to acquisition. NOI is calculated as Net (loss) income before Interest expense, Income tax expense, Depreciation and amortization, and excluding corporate Selling, general, and administrative expense; Transactions, strategic initiatives and other costs, net; Net gain from sale of real estate and all components of non-operating other income and expense. Management believes that this is a helpful metric to measure period to period operating performance of the business. We define our “same store” population once annually at the beginning of the current calendar year. Our population includes properties owned or leased for the entirety of two comparable periods with at least twelve consecutive months of normalized operations prior to January 1 of the current calendar year. We define “normalized operations” as properties that have been open for operation or lease, after development, expansion, or significant modification (e.g., rehabilitation subsequent to a natural disaster). Acquired properties are included in the “same store” population if owned by us as of the first business day of the prior calendar year (e.g. January 1, 2025) and are still owned by us as of the end of the current reporting period, unless the property is under development. The “same store” pool is also adjusted to remove properties that are being exited (e.g. non-renewal of warehouse lease or held for sale to third parties), were sold, or entered development subsequent to the beginning of the current calendar year. Changes in ownership structure (e.g., purchase of a previously leased warehouse) does not result in a facility being excluded from the same store population, as management believes that actively managing its real estate is normal course of operations. Additionally, management classifies new developments (both conventional and automated facilities) as a component of the same store pool once the facility is considered fully operational and both inbounding and outbounding product for at least twelve consecutive months prior to January 1 of the current calendar year. We calculate “same store revenues” as revenues for the same store population. We calculate “same store contribution (NOI)” as revenues for the same store population less its cost of operations (excluding any Depreciation and amortization, Selling, general, and administrative, Transactions, strategic initiatives and other costs, net and Net gain from sale of real estate) and all components of non-operating other income and expense. In order to derive an appropriate measure of period-to-period operating performance, we also calculate our same store contribution (NOI) on a constant currency basis to remove the effects of foreign currency exchange rate movements by using the comparable prior period exchange rate to translate from local currency into U.S. dollars for both periods. We evaluate the performance of the warehouses we own or lease using a “same store” analysis, and we believe that same store contribution (NOI) is helpful to investors as a supplemental performance measure because it includes the operating performance from the population of properties that is consistent from period to period and also on a constant currency basis, thereby eliminating the effects of changes in the composition of our warehouse portfolio and currency fluctuations on performance measures. Same store contribution (NOI) is not a measurement of financial performance under U.S. GAAP. In addition, other companies providing temperature-controlled warehouse storage and handling and other warehouse services may not define same store or calculate same store contribution (NOI) in a manner consistent with our definition or calculation. Same store contribution (NOI) should be considered as a supplement, but not as an alternative, to our results calculated in accordance with U.S. GAAP. We calculated “total enterprise value” as the sum of net debt and our equity capitalization based on the fully diluted unweighted common stock outstanding and the related common stock share price as of June 30, 2026. We define “maintenance capital expenditures” as capital expenditures made to extend the life of, and provide future economic benefit from, our existing temperature-controlled warehouse network and its existing supporting personal property and information technology. Maintenance capital expenditures do not include acquisition costs contemplated when underwriting the purchase of a building or costs which are incurred to bring a building up to Americold’s operating standards. We are not able to provide forward-looking guidance for certain financial data that would make a reconciliation from the most comparable GAAP measure to non-GAAP financial measure for forward-looking Warehouse Segment Same Store Revenues and NOI, Total Company NOI, Core EBITDA, and Adjusted FFO per share without unreasonable effort. This is due to unpredictable nature of relevant reconciling items from factors such as acquisitions, divestitures, impairments, natural disaster events, restructurings, debt issuances that have not yet occurred, or other events that are out of our control and cannot be forecasted. The impact of such adjustments could be significant. All quarterly amounts and non-GAAP disclosures within this filing shall be deemed unaudited.

Our analysts just identified a stock with the potential to be the next Nvidia. Tell us how you invest and we'll show you why it's our #1 pick. Tap here. Management attributes the 200 basis point sequential physical occupancy increase to deliberate market share gains and the ramping of record new business wins from the prior year. The company is successfully winning business from smaller, capital-constrained competitors who are struggling operationally or exiting the industry as new project starts slow. Strategic focus has shifted toward underpenetrated sectors, including retail footprints in Europe and convenience store capabilities in Asia Pacific, to diversify beyond traditional storage. Pricing discipline remains a priority, with management choosing to lead with service excellence rather than participating in the price-cutting trends seen among smaller industry participants. The 'fit-for-purpose' initiative aims to deliver $25 million in additional savings by early 2027, leveraging prior technology investments to streamline SG&A and support functions. Inventory levels have stabilized as customers have reached a point where safety stock is aligned with demand, ending the multi-year destocking trend. The gap between physical and economic occupancy tightened to 860 basis points, which management views as a healthier and more sustainable long-term level. Full-year AFFO guidance was raised to $1.26-$1.32 per share, absorbing a $0.05 dilutive impact from the EQT joint venture through base business outperformance. The $1.3 billion EQT joint venture is expected to close in Q3 2026, with $1.1 billion of proceeds earmarked to retire all 2026-2028 U.S. dollar-denominated debt. Future development will be strictly refined to lower-risk, customer-dedicated projects anchored by long-term fixed commitments, such as the McCain Foods plant-adjacent project. Management expects a return to normalized seasonal trends throughout the remainder of the year, though guidance does not assume a significant macro demand recovery. The company targets a leverage ratio of 6x or less, supported by the JV closing and the anticipated sale of several hundred million dollars in idled or non-core properties. A $298.8 million non-cash impairment charge was recorded following the strategic decision to wind down operations at the Lancaster and Plainville automated facilities. The exit from the Lancaster and Plainville sites was a mutual agreement with a major customer to reallocate capital from assets that failed to meet return and service expectations. Ten underperforming facilities have been exited since last year, with an additional 15 facilities currently idled or actively marketed for sale. Storage rates were positively impacted by power surcharges as the company utilizes contractual mechanisms to pass through rising utility costs to customers. One stock. Nvidia-level potential. 30M+ investors trust Moby to find it first. Get the pick. Tap here. Management confirmed gains are driven by a mix of new business wins in Europe and Asia and a 'service-first' strategy in North America that avoided price wars. The low churn rate of 2.1% suggests customers are returning to Americold for reliability as smaller competitors struggle to maintain service levels. The facilities utilized complex 2019-era retail automation that did not meet modern return expectations or specific service level agreements. The customer relationship was preserved by extending and expanding business at other locations within the Americold network while listing the failed sites for sale. While high input costs challenge customers, management noted 'green shoots' in wage growth for lower-income consumers and increased promotional activity by food producers. New product innovation, such as high-protein and smaller serving sizes, is driving incremental safety stock requirements even if total grocery volumes remain flat. Once leverage targets are met, the company will prioritize customer-led development and potentially strategic M&A if valuation expectations align. Deleveraging will also be aided by EBITDA coming online from completed development projects that have already been fully funded.

Americold Realty Trust Inc. (COLD) reported $662.89 million in revenue for the quarter ended June 2026, representing a year-over-year increase of 1.9%. EPS of $0.35 for the same period compares to $0.01 a year ago. The reported revenue represents a surprise of +5.34% over the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $629.26 million. With the consensus EPS estimate being $0.32, the EPS surprise was +9.38%. While investors closely watch year-over-year changes in headline numbers -- revenue and earnings -- and how they compare to Wall Street expectations to determine their next course of action, some key metrics always provide a better insight into a company's underlying performance. As these metrics influence top- and bottom-line performance, comparing them to the year-ago numbers and what analysts estimated helps investors project a stock's price performance more accurately. Here is how Americold Realty Trust performed in the just reported quarter in terms of the metrics most widely monitored and projected by Wall Street analysts: Revenues- Rent, storage and warehouse services: $603.57 million versus the two-analyst average estimate of $579.96 million. The reported number represents a year-over-year change of +1.6%. Revenues- Global Warehouse- Warehouse services: $349.91 million versus the two-analyst average estimate of $333.83 million. The reported number represents a year-over-year change of +3.7%. Revenues- Global Warehouse- Rent and storage: $253.67 million compared to the $246.13 million average estimate based on two analysts. The reported number represents a change of -1.2% year over year. Revenues- Transportation services: $59.32 million compared to the $49.3 million average estimate based on two analysts. The reported number represents a change of +23.3% year over year. Net Earnings Per Share (Diluted): $-1.19 versus $0.05 estimated by two analysts on average. View all Key Company Metrics for Americold Realty Trust here>>> Shares of Americold Realty Trust have returned -10.8% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +3.3% change. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell), indicating that it could underperform the broader market in the near term. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Americold Realty Trust Inc. (COLD) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Interested in Americold Realty Trust Inc.? Here are five stocks we like better. Americold beat Q1 expectations, reporting adjusted FFO of $0.29 per share, with management saying occupancy trends have stabilized and the business is running “in line or slightly better” than guidance. Physical occupancy was flat year over year, and the company kept its full-year AFFO guidance at $1.20 to $1.30 per share. The company announced a major EQT joint venture involving 12 U.S. properties valued at more than $1.3 billion, expected to close in the third quarter and generate about $1.1 billion in proceeds. Americold plans to use the cash to pay down debt maturities and improve leverage, though the deal could create a modest AFFO headwind in 2026. Americold is pushing cost cuts and portfolio optimization while also pursuing growth opportunities in e-commerce, international contracts, and customer-dedicated development projects. Management said it completed $30 million in savings initiatives and highlighted new leasing activity, renewals, and projects like the McCain Foods development as signs of strategic progress. REITs Set for a 2026 Rebound? 7 Top Picks as Rate Cuts Approach Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD) reported first-quarter 2026 adjusted funds from operations of $0.29 per share, exceeding analyst consensus, as management said occupancy trends showed signs of stabilization despite continued pressure in the cold storage market. Chief Executive Officer Rob Chambers said the company’s key metrics came in “in line or slightly better” than its original guidance. Physical occupancy was flat year over year in the quarter, a trend Chambers said continued into April and supported management’s view that inventory levels have “largely stabilized.” → Wells Fargo’s Comeback Is Real—But Not Risk-Free 3 Stocks to Hedge Against Inflation’s Persistence Chief Financial Officer Chris Papa, who joined Americold in February, said same-store physical occupancy stabilized while economic occupancy contracted slightly less than anticipated. Warehouse net operating income declined 4.5% in the quarter, which Papa said was expected and reflected pricing pressure in storage, lower throughput and a $2 million headwind from energy costs. The company announced a new joint venture with EQT Partners, which will hold a 70% interest in the venture. Americold will contribute a seed portfolio of 12 U.S. properties valued at more than $1.3 billion, representing a blended cap rate of about 7%, or nearly $3,300 per pallet position, according to Chambers. → Rocket Lab Posts Record Q1 Revenue, Raises Q2 Guidance 5 High-Yielding Oversold Stocks with Bullish Ratings Americold expects the transaction to close in the third quarter and generate approximately $1.1 billion in proceeds. Papa said the company plans to use the proceeds to repay all of its 2026 and 2027 U.S. dollar-denominated debt maturities, as well as a portion of its 2028 maturities. The 12 contributed properties generated approximately $231 million in revenue and $103 million in NOI in fiscal 2025, Papa said. Americold will continue operating the warehouses and expects to receive annual management fees of approximately $15 million to $20 million, in addition to its 30% share of the venture’s NOI. → The Great Crypto Thaw: Regulation Ignites an Infrastructure Boom Papa said Americold ended the first quarter with net debt to pro forma core EBITDA of 7.1 times. On a pro forma basis, the joint venture would reduce that ratio by about three-quarters of a turn, moving the company closer to its target of 6 times or less. Management said the joint venture could create a full-year AFFO headwind of about $0.10 per share, or roughly $0.06 per share in the second half of 2026, depending on closing timing. However, Chambers said the underlying business is tracking toward the higher end of the original guidance range before accounting for the joint venture. Americold maintained its AFFO guidance range of $1.20 to $1.30 per share, inclusive of the expected transaction impact. Chambers said Americold renewed 34% of the year’s fixed committed contracts that were either month to month or scheduled to expire in 2026. Those renewals represented about $100 million of revenue and extended the weighted average duration of future expirations. The company held its total rent and storage revenue from fixed committed contracts at 59%. Chambers said the renewal activity was “one of the highlights of the quarter” and described customer conversations as constructive, even as the industry continues to face excess capacity. Americold reported customer churn of 2.5%. Chambers said the figure supports management’s view that service remains a high priority for customers when selecting cold chain partners. He said Americold continues to emphasize its “Americold Advantage,” which includes service, technology solutions and additional services, rather than competing primarily on price. Americold completed the $30 million of indirect labor and SG&A savings initiatives it identified late last year. Papa said the company reduced indirect labor by more than 400 positions in the first quarter and has begun a second phase of work to identify additional savings and improve organizational efficiency. The company is also continuing to rationalize its real estate portfolio. Chambers said Americold previously identified nine additional facilities to exit or idle in 2026, and two exits were completed in the first quarter. Both facilities were leased properties in the Atlanta market, and the company returned the keys at the end of the lease terms after shifting much of the customer inventory into nearby facilities. Chambers said the buildings will be torn down, removing more than 62,000 pallet positions from the market. Americold also purchased an existing leased facility at what Chambers described as well below market value and then entered into a 15-year triple-net lease with a new tenant to fully occupy the space. He said the transaction is expected to generate an approximate 10% return on investment. The company also signed additional leasing deals during the quarter, increasing annualized leasing revenue by more than $4 million, or about 7%. Chambers highlighted several growth initiatives outside the company’s core food storage business. In Australia, Americold expanded its relationship with On the Run to support 600 convenience and petrol locations with tri-temperature warehousing services. The company also renewed its contract with KFC in Australia for an additional 10 years, continuing a relationship that has lasted about 30 years. Americold’s e-commerce business is growing at a double-digit rate, Chambers said. The company is onboarding three new accounts, shipped more than 1 million packages last year and has expanded capabilities to five sites across the United States. Chambers said Americold can cover 99.5% of the U.S. population in two days or less. On development, Americold completed expansions in Sydney, Australia, and Christchurch, New Zealand, during the quarter, both on time and on budget. The expansions are dedicated to large grocery retailers. The company also announced a new customer-dedicated project with McCain Foods in Plover, Wisconsin. McCain is a top-five Americold customer with a relationship of nearly 35 years. The project would add 56,000 pallet positions adjacent to McCain’s manufacturing plant and is supported by a 20-year fixed commitment agreement. Chambers said the project could fit well within the new EQT joint venture. During the question-and-answer portion of the call, Chambers said the flat-to-slightly-higher physical occupancy trend was driven by industry stabilization, new business wins and market share gains, rather than facility consolidation. He said Americold has benefited in some cases as smaller operators and new entrants have struggled or exited the market. Chambers said customers remain cautious about the year but are increasingly discussing investments in innovation, marketing and promotions aimed at consumer value and organic volume growth. He said Americold is not “standing still and waiting for a rebound in demand” and remains focused on deleveraging, portfolio management, cost savings, occupancy growth and strategic customer partnerships. Americold Realty Trust is a real estate investment trust specializing in temperature-controlled warehousing and logistics solutions. The company owns, operates, and develops a global network of cold storage facilities designed to support the storage, handling, and distribution of perishable products. Services include blast freezing, repacking, labeling, cross-docking, and transportation management, all integrated to streamline clients' cold chain operations and help ensure product quality and safety from origin to point of consumption. With roots dating back to the early 20th century, Americold has expanded through strategic acquisitions and facility development to become one of the world's largest publicly traded cold storage providers. This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected]. The article "Americold Realty Trust Q1 Earnings Call Highlights" was originally published by MarketBeat. View MarketBeat's top stocks for May 2026.