The Water Doesn't Appear Very Muddy; Our Take on the Ensign Short Reports

Research evidence excerpt

The Water Doesn't Appear Very Muddy; Our Take on the Ensign Short Reports

REITs

EQUITY RESEARCH Industry Report

June 15, 2026

The Water Doesn't Appear Very Muddy; Our Take on

Research Analysts:

Richard Anderson the Ensign Short Reports

929-441-6927

Richard.Anderson@cantor.com SUMMARY: Last week, two "short reports" (from Muddy Waters Research

Jay Kornreich and Hunterbrook) surfaced on The Ensign Group (ENSG, NC), which is

718-865-3439 widely considered to be a gold standard operator of Skilled Nursing Jay.Kornreich@cantor.com

Facilities (SNFs). While ENSG could be described as an easy target given Jeffrey Carr

929-709-0434 its very positive reputation as a tenant to the Healthcare REITs, we find

Jeffrey.Carr@cantor.com the perspectives of these two reports as far closer to propaganda than

persuasive, at least at the present time. The fact of the matter is the SNF

business is a tough one, and things do go wrong when caring for people

nearing the end of their lives. But relatively speaking, quality measures at

ENSG are almost universally better than the national average, and that fact

is difficult to game through fraud or some other dubious approach to the

business. Beyond these initial comments, here is a balanced perspective on

what will likely be a nothingburger, but a possible overhang nonetheless

until resolved.

●REIT Exposure and Politics: From a REIT exposure point of view,

ENSG is the largest tenant of Neutral-rated CTRE at 21% of the

total, followed by Overweight-rated NHI (9%), Neutral-rated SBRA (8%)

and Overweight-rated OHI (less than 1%). Generally-speaking, the

company has nearly a flawless credit history and above-industry rent

coverage metrics, and perhaps it was these statistics specifically that