ESSENTIAL PROPERTIES REALTY TRUST, INC. (EPRT)

Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

In this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, we refer to Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc., a Maryland corporation, together with its consolidated subsidiaries, including its operating partnership, Essential Properties, L.P., as “we,” “us,” “our” or the “Company,” unless we specifically state otherwise or the context otherwise requires.

Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This quarterly report contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). In particular, many statements pertaining to our business and growth strategies, investment, financing and leasing activities, and trends in our business, including trends in the market for long-term, net leases of freestanding, single-tenant properties, contain forward-looking statements. When used in this quarterly report, the words “estimate,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “believe,” “intend,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “seek,” “approximately,” and “plan,” and variations of such words, and similar words or phrases, that are predictions of future events or trends and that do not relate solely to historical matters, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. You can also identify forward-looking statements by discussions of strategy, plans, beliefs or intentions of management.

Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results of operations or plans expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements; accordingly, you should not rely on forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Forward-looking statements depend on assumptions, data or methods that may be incorrect or imprecise, and may not be realized. We do not guarantee that the transactions and events described will happen as described (or that they will happen at all). The following factors, among others, could cause actual results and future events to differ materially from those set forth or contemplated in the forward-looking statements:

•general business and economic conditions, including those impacting the domestic labor market, and factors such as tariffs impacting international trade;

•risks inherent in the real estate business, including tenant defaults or bankruptcies, illiquidity of real estate investments, fluctuations in real estate values and the general economic climate in local markets, competition for tenants in such markets, potential liability relating to environmental matters and potential damages from natural disasters;

•the performance and financial condition of our tenants;

•the availability of suitable properties to acquire and our ability to acquire and lease those properties on favorable terms;

•our ability to renew leases, lease vacant space or re-lease space as existing leases expire or are terminated;

•volatility and uncertainty in financial markets, in particular the equity and credit markets, fluctuations in the Consumer Price Index, and the impact of inflation on us and our tenants;

•the degree and nature of our competition;

•our failure to generate sufficient cash flows to service our outstanding indebtedness;

•our ability to access debt and equity capital on attractive terms;

•fluctuating interest rates;

•availability of qualified personnel and our ability to retain our key management personnel;

•changes in, or the failure or inability to comply with, applicable law or regulation;

•our failure to continue to qualify for taxation as a real estate investment trust ("REIT");

•changes in the U.S. tax law and other U.S. laws, whether or not specific to REITs; and

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•additional factors discussed in the sections entitled “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in this quarterly report and in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025.

You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this quarterly report. While forward-looking statements reflect our good faith beliefs, they are not guarantees of future events or of our performance. We disclaim any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect changes in underlying assumptions or factors, new information, data or methods, future events or other changes, except as required by law.

Because we operate in a highly competitive and rapidly changing environment, new risks emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for management to predict all such risks, nor can management assess the impact of all such risks on our business or the extent to which any risk, or combination of risks, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. Given these risks and uncertainties, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual events or results.

Overview

We are an internally managed real estate company that acquires, owns and manages primarily single-tenant properties that are net leased on a long-term basis to middle-market companies operating service-oriented or experience-based businesses. We generally invest in and lease freestanding, single-tenant commercial real estate facilities where a tenant services its customers and conducts activities that are essential to the generation of the tenant’s sales and profits. As of June 30, 2026, 91.6% of our $604.9 million of annualized base rent was attributable to properties operated by tenants in service-oriented and experience-based businesses. "Annualized base rent" means annualized contractually specified cash base rent in effect on June 30, 2026 for all of our leases (including those accounted for as loans or direct financing leases) commenced as of that date and annualized cash interest on our mortgage loans receivable as of that date.

We were organized on January 12, 2018 as a Maryland corporation. We elected to be taxed as a REIT for U.S. federal income tax purposes beginning with the year ended December 31, 2018, and we believe that our current organization, operations and intended distributions will allow us to continue to so qualify. Our common stock is listed on the NYSE under the symbol “EPRT”.

Our primary business objective is to maximize stockholder value by generating attractive risk-adjusted returns through owning, managing and growing a diversified portfolio of commercially desirable properties. As of June 30, 2026, we had a portfolio of 2,493 properties (inclusive of one undeveloped land parcel and 152 properties which secure our investments in mortgage loans receivable) that was diversified by tenant, industry, concept and geography, had annualized base rent of $604.9 million and was 99.6% occupied. Our portfolio is built based on the following core investment attributes:

Diversification. As of June 30, 2026, our portfolio was 99.6% occupied by tenants operating 715 different brands, or concepts, across 48 states, with none of our tenants contributing more than 3.1% of our annualized base rent. Our goal is that, over time, no more than 5% of our annualized base rent will be derived from any single tenant or more than 1% from any single property.

Long Lease Term. As of June 30, 2026, our leases had a weighted average remaining lease term of 14.3 years (based on annualized base rent), with 2.3% of our annualized base rent attributable to leases expiring prior to January 1, 2029. Our properties generally are subject to long-term net leases that we believe provide us a stable base of revenue from which to grow our portfolio.

Significant Use of Sale-Leaseback Investments. We seek to acquire properties owned and operated by middle-market businesses and lease the properties back to the operators pursuant to our standard lease form. During the six months ended June 30, 2026, 92% of our investments were sale-leaseback transactions.

Significant Use of Master Leases. As of June 30, 2026, 64.6% of our annualized base rent was attributable to master leases.

Contractual Base Rent Escalation. As of June 30, 2026, 97.1% of our leases (based on annualized base rent) provided for increases in future base rent at a weighted average rate of 1.9% per year.

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Smaller, Low Basis Single-Tenant Properties. We generally invest in freestanding “small-box” single- tenant properties. As of June 30, 2026, our average investment per property was $3.1 million (which equals our aggregate investment in our properties (including transaction costs, lease incentives and amounts funded for construction in progress) divided by the number of properties owned at such date), and we believe investments of similar size allow us to grow our portfolio without concentrating a large amount of capital in individual properties and limit our exposure to events that may adversely affect a particular property. Additionally, we believe that many of our properties are generally fungible and appropriate for multiple commercial uses, which reduces the risk that a particular property may become obsolete and enhances our ability to sell a property if we choose to do so.

Healthy Rent Coverage Ratio and Tenant Financial Reporting. As of June 30, 2026, our portfolio’s weighted average rent coverage ratio was 3.5x, and 99.2% of our leases (based on annualized base rent) obligate the tenant to periodically provide us with specified unit-level financial reporting. "Rent coverage ratio" means, as of a specified date, the ratio of (x) tenant-reported or, when unavailable, management's estimate (based on tenant-reported financial information) of annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and cash rent attributable to the leased property (or properties, in the case of a master lease) to (y) the annualized base rental obligation.

Our Competitive Strengths

We believe the following competitive strengths distinguish us from our competitors and allow us to compete effectively in the single-tenant, net-lease market:

Carefully Constructed Portfolio of Properties Leased to Service-Oriented or Experience-Based Tenants. We have strategically constructed a portfolio that is diversified by tenant, industry, concept and geography and generally avoids exposure to businesses that we believe are subject to pressure from e-commerce. Our properties are generally subject to long-term net leases that we believe provide us with a stable and predictable base of revenue from which to grow our portfolio. As of June 30, 2026, we had a portfolio of 2,493 properties, with annualized base rent of $604.9 million, which was purposefully selected by our management team in accordance with our focused and disciplined investment strategy. Our portfolio is diversified with our tenants operating 715 different concepts across 48 states. No single tenant contributed more than 3.1% of our annualized base rent as of June 30, 2026, consistent with our strategy of having a scaled portfolio that, over time, allows us to derive no more than 5% of our annualized base rent from any single tenant or more than 1% from any single property.

We believe that our portfolio’s diversity and the rigorous underwriting process we utilize decrease the impact on us of an adverse event affecting an individual tenant, industry or region. Our focus on leasing to tenants in industries where the leased properties are essential to generating the tenants' revenues and profits (and that we believe are well-positioned to withstand competition from e-commerce) increases the stability and predictability of our rental revenue.

Differentiated Investment Strategy. We seek

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Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read together with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this report, as well as the "Business" section of this report. Some of the information contained in this discussion and analysis or set forth elsewhere in this report, including information with respect to our plans and strategies for our business, includes forward‑looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. You should read "Item 1A. Risk Factors" and the "Special Note Regarding Forward‑Looking Statements" sections of this report for a discussion of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results described in or implied by these forward‑looking statements.

Overview

We are an internally managed real estate company that acquires, owns and manages primarily single-tenant properties that are net leased on a long-term basis to middle-market companies operating service-oriented or experience-based businesses. We generally invest in and lease freestanding, single-tenant commercial real estate facilities where a tenant services its customers and conducts activities that are essential to the generation of the tenant’s sales and profits. As of December 31, 2025, 91.5% of our $555.0 million of annualized base rent was attributable to properties operated by tenants in service-oriented and experience-based businesses. "Annualized base rent" means annualized contractually specified cash base rent in effect on December 31, 2025 for all of our leases (including those accounted for as loans or direct financing leases) commenced as of that date and annualized cash interest on our mortgage loans receivable as of that date.

We were organized on January 12, 2018 as a Maryland corporation. We elected to be taxed as a REIT for U.S. federal income tax purposes beginning with the year ended December 31, 2018, and we believe that our current organization, operations and intended distributions will allow us to continue to so qualify. Our common stock is listed on the NYSE under the symbol “EPRT”.

Our primary business objective is to maximize stockholder value by generating attractive risk-adjusted returns through owning, managing and growing a diversified portfolio of commercially desirable properties. As of December 31, 2025, we had a portfolio of 2,300 properties (inclusive of one undeveloped land parcel and 150 properties which secure our investments in mortgage loans receivable) that was diversified by tenant, industry, concept and geography, had annualized base rent of $555.0 million and was 99.7% occupied. Our portfolio is built based on the following core investment attributes:

Diversification. As of December 31, 2025, our portfolio was 99.7% occupied by tenants operating 659 different brands, or concepts, across 48 states, with none of our tenants contributing more than 3.4% of our annualized base rent. Our goal is that, over time, no more than 5% of our annualized base rent will be derived from any single-tenant or more than 1% from any single property.

Long Lease Term. As of December 31, 2025, our leases had a weighted average remaining lease term of 14.4 years (based on annualized base rent), with 5.2% of our annualized base rent attributable to leases expiring prior to January 1, 2031. Our properties generally are subject to long-term net leases that we believe provide us a stable base of revenue from which to grow our portfolio.

Significant Use of Sale-Leaseback Investments. We seek to acquire properties owned and operated by middle-market businesses and lease the properties back to the operators pursuant to our standard lease form. During the year ended December 31, 2025, 95% of our investments were sale-leaseback transactions.

Significant Use of Master Leases. As of December 31, 2025, 66.8% of our annualized base rent was attributable to master leases.

Contractual Base Rent Escalation. As of December 31, 2025, 97.9% of our leases (based on annualized base rent) provided for increases in future base rent at a weighted average rate of 1.8% per year.

Smaller, Low Basis Single-Tenant Properties. We generally invest in freestanding “small-box” single- tenant properties. As of December 31, 2025, our average investment per property was $3.1 million (which equals our aggregate investment in our properties (including transaction costs, lease incentives and amounts funded for construction in progress) divided by the number of properties owned at such date), and we believe investments of

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similar size allow us to grow our portfolio without concentrating a large amount of capital in individual properties and limit our exposure to events that may adversely affect a particular property. Additionally, we believe that many of our properties are generally fungible and appropriate for multiple commercial uses, which reduces the risk that a particular property may become obsolete and enhances our ability to sell a property if we choose to do so.

Healthy Rent Coverage Ratio and Tenant Financial Reporting. As of December 31, 2025, our portfolio’s weighted average rent coverage ratio was 3.6x, and 99.2% of our leases (based on annualized base rent) obligate the tenant to periodically provide us with specified unit-level financial reporting. "Rent coverage ratio" means, as of a specified date, the ratio of (x) tenant-reported or, when unavailable, management's estimate (based on tenant-reported financial information) of annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and cash rent attributable to the leased property (or properties, in the case of a master lease) to (y) the annualized base rental obligation.

Historical Investment and Disposition Activity

The following table sets forth select information about our investment activity for the previous eight quarters beginning with the quarter ended March 31, 2024 through the quarter ended December 31, 2025 (dollars in thousands):

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(1)    Cash annualized base rent for the first full month after the investment divided by the gross investment in the property plus transaction costs.

(2)    GAAP rent and interest income for the first twelve months after the investment divided by the gross investment in the property plus transaction costs.

(3)    As a percentage of annualized base rent.

(4)    Includes investments in mortgage loans receivable collateralized by more than one property.

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(5)    Includes investments in mortgage loans receivable made in support of sale-leaseback transactions.

The following table sets forth select information about our disposition activity for the previous eight quarters beginning with the quarter ended March 31, 2024 through the quarter ended December 31, 2025 (dollars in thousands):

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(1)     Net of transaction costs.

(2)     Annualized base rent at time of sale divided by the gross sale price (excluding transaction costs) for the property.

(3)     Property count excludes dispositions of undeveloped land parcels or dispositions where only a portion of the owned parcel was sold.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

As of December 31, 2025, the net investment value of our income property portfolio totaled $6.6 billion, consisting of investments in 2,300 properties (inclusive of one undeveloped land parcel and 150 properties which secure our investments in mortgage loans receivable), with annualized base rent of $555.0 million. Substantially all of our cash from operations is generated by our investment portfolio.

The liquidity requirements for operating our Company consist primarily of funding our investment activities, servicing our outstanding indebtedness and paying our general and administrative expenses and dividends as declared by our Board. The occupancy level of our portfolio is high (99.7% as of December 31, 2025) and, because substantially all of our leases are triple-net (whereby our tenants are generally responsible for all maintenance, costs for operating the property, and insurance and property taxes associated with the leased properties), our liquidity requirements are not significantly impacted by property costs. When a property becomes vacant, we are required to pay the property costs not paid by a tenant, as well as those property costs accruing during the time it takes to locate a new tenant or to sell the property. As of December 31, 2025, six of our investment properties were vacant, less than 1% of our portfolio, and all remaining properties were subject to a lease (excluding one undeveloped land parcel) or mortgage loan receivable. We expect to incur property costs from time to time in periods during which properties that become vacant are being marketed for lease or sale. In addition, we may recognize an expense for certain property costs, such as real estate taxes billed in arrears, if we believe the tenant is likely to vacate the property before making payme

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