We present Funds From Operations (“FFO”), FFO per share, Adjusted Funds From Operations (“AFFO”), AFFO per share, and Adjusted EBITDA, which are not required by, or presented in accordance with, generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”). These are non-GAAP financial measures and should not be construed as alternatives to net income or as an indicator of operating performance (as determined in accordance with GAAP). We believe FFO, FFO per share, AFFO, AFFO per share and Adjusted EBITDA provide a meaningful perspective of the underlying operating performance of our business.
FFO is a non-GAAP financial measure that is considered a supplemental measure for the real estate industry and a supplement to GAAP measures. Consistent with the definition used by The National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (“NAREIT”), we define FFO as net income (or loss) (computed in accordance with GAAP) excluding (i) gains (or losses) from sales of certain real estate assets, (ii) depreciation and amortization related to real estate, (iii) gains and losses from change in control and (iv) impairment writedowns of certain real estate assets and investments in entities when the impairment is directly attributable to decreases in the value of depreciable real estate held by the entity.
AFFO is a non-GAAP financial measure that we use as a supplemental operating measure to evaluate our performance. We calculate AFFO by adding or subtracting from FFO non-cash leasing and financing adjustments attributable to common stockholders, non-cash change in allowance for credit losses attributable to common stockholders, transaction costs incurred in connection with the acquisition of real estate investments, non-cash stock-based compensation expense, amortization of debt issuance costs and original issue discount, other non-cash interest expense, non-real estate depreciation (which is comprised of the depreciation related to our golf course operations), capital expenditures (which are comprised of additions to property, plant and equipment related to our golf course operations), impairment charges related to non-depreciable real estate and gains (or losses) on debt extinguishment. The non-cash allowance for credit losses attributable to common stockholders consists of estimated credit loss for our investments in leases - direct financing and sales-type, investments in leases - financing receivables and investments in loans as a result of our adoption of ASU No. 2016-13 - Financial Instruments-Credit Losses (Topic 326). No similar adjustments are reflected in prior periods because the accounting standard was adopted effective January 1, 2020 and does not require retrospective application. Please see the note titled “Allowance for Credit Losses” in our financial statements included in our most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q or Annual Report on Form 10-K for further information.
We calculate Adjusted EBITDA by adding or subtracting from AFFO interest expense, net and income tax expense.
These non-GAAP financial measures: (i) do not represent cash flow from operations as defined by GAAP; (ii) should not be considered as an alternative to net income as a measure of operating performance or to cash flows from operating, investing and financing activities; and (iii) are not alternatives to cash flow as a measure of liquidity. In addition, these measures should not be viewed as measures of liquidity, nor do they measure our ability to fund all of our cash needs, including our ability to make cash distributions to our stockholders, to fund capital improvements, or to make interest payments on our indebtedness. Investors are also cautioned that FFO, FFO per share, AFFO, AFFO per share and Adjusted EBIDTA, as presented, may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other real estate companies, including REITs, due to the fact that not all real estate companies use the same definitions. Our presentation of these measures does not replace the presentation of our financial results in accordance with GAAP.