SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2025

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Basis of Presentation

Basis of Presentation—The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements of the Company were prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”) for interim financial information and Article 10 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, the condensed consolidated financial statements do not include all of the disclosures required by GAAP for a complete set of annual audited financial statements. The condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024. In the opinion of management, all adjustments which are of a normal and recurring nature and considered necessary for a fair presentation of the results of the interim periods presented have been included. The results of operations for the interim periods are not necessarily indicative of results for the full year. The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements of the Company include the accounts of CareTrust REIT, its wholly-owned subsidiaries, and variable interest entities (“VIEs”) over which the Company exercises control. All intercompany transactions and account balances within the Company have been eliminated, and net earnings are reduced by the portion of net earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests.

Income Taxes

Income Taxes—In connection with the Acquisition (as defined in Note 3, Acquisitions), the Company is subject to certain foreign taxes. The Company’s foreign subsidiaries in the U.K. operate as a REIT and generally are subject only to a withholding tax on earnings upon distribution out of the U.K. All earnings of the Company’s foreign subsidiaries in excess of the amounts required to be distributed are considered to be indefinitely reinvested and accordingly, no provision for applicable income taxes has been provided thereon. Upon distribution of those earnings, the Company would be subject to withholding

taxes payable to the U.K. See Note 3, Acquisitions, for additional information. The expense associated with these taxes is included in income tax expense on the Company’s condensed consolidated income statements.

Derivative and Hedging Activities

Derivative and Hedging Activities—The Company is exposed to, among other risks, the impact of changes in foreign currency exchange rates as a result of the Company’s investments in the U.K. and interest rate risk related to its capital structure. As a matter of policy, the Company does not use derivatives for trading or speculative purposes. The Company’s risk management program is designed to manage the exposure and volatility arising from these risks, and may utilize foreign currency forward contracts, interest rate swaps, interest rate caps and debt issued in foreign currencies to offset a portion of these risks.

Derivatives are financial arrangements among two or more parties with returns linked to or “derived” from an underlying equity, debt, commodity, other asset, liability, interest rate, foreign exchange rate or another index, or the occurrence or nonoccurrence of a specified event. The settlement of a derivative is determined by its underlying notional amount specified in the contract. Derivative contracts may be entered into outright or embedded within a non-derivative host contract, and may be listed, traded on exchanges or privately negotiated directly between two parties.

To qualify for hedge accounting, derivative instruments used for risk management purposes must effectively reduce the risk exposure that they are designed to hedge. The Company formally documents all relationships between hedging instruments and hedged items, as well as its risk-management objectives and strategy for undertaking various hedge transactions. This process includes designating all derivatives that are part of a hedging relationship to specific forecasted transactions as well as recognized liabilities or assets on the condensed consolidated balance sheets. In addition, at the inception of a qualifying cash flow hedging relationship, the underlying transaction or transactions, must be, and are expected to remain, probable of occurring in accordance with the Company’s related assertions. The Company recognizes all derivative instruments, including embedded derivatives required to be bifurcated, as assets or liabilities on the condensed consolidated balance sheets at fair value which is determined using a market approach and Level 2 inputs. For derivatives designated in qualifying cash flow hedging relationships, the gain or loss on the derivative is recognized in accumulated other comprehensive income as a separate component of equity.

If it is determined that a derivative instrument ceases to be highly effective as a hedge, or that it is probable the underlying forecasted transaction will not occur, the Company discontinues its cash flow hedge accounting prospectively and records the appropriate adjustment to earnings based on the current fair value of the derivative instrument.

Derivative Instruments

Derivative Instruments Not Designated As Hedging Instruments—Certain derivative financial instruments, consisting of interest rate cap agreements, are used to manage the Company’s exposure to interest rate movements, but do not meet the accounting requirements to be classified as hedging instruments. These derivatives are carried at their fair value in prepaid expenses and other assets, net on the Company’s condensed consolidated balance sheets. The changes in fair value of interest rate derivatives are recognized within interest expense on the Company’s condensed consolidated income statements.

Lessee Accounting

Lessee Accounting— For operating leases with an initial term greater than 12 months for which the Company is the lessee, such as ground leases, the Company recognizes a right-of-use (“ROU”) asset on its condensed consolidated balance sheets at inception of the lease. ROU assets represent the Company’s right to use underlying assets for the lease term and are based on the estimated present value of the Company’s minimum lease payments under the agreements. The discount rate used to determine the lease liabilities is based on the Company’s incremental borrowing rate. In connection with the Acquisition (as defined in Note 3, Acquisitions), the Company recorded $30.0 million in ROU assets related to below market ground leases included in prepaid expenses and other assets, net on the condensed consolidated balance sheets.

Fair Value Measurements

The Company determines fair value based on quoted prices when available or through the use of alternative approaches, such as discounting the expected cash flows using market interest rates commensurate with the credit quality and duration of the investment. GAAP guidance defines three levels of inputs that may be used to measure fair value:

Level 1 – Quoted prices in active markets for identical assets and liabilities that the reporting entity has the ability to access at the measurement date.

Level 2 – Inputs other than quoted prices included within Level 1 that are observable for the asset or liability or can be corroborated with observable market data for substantially the entire contractual term of the asset or liability.

Level 3 – Unobservable inputs reflect the entity’s own assumptions about the assumptions that market participants would use in the pricing of the asset or liability and are consequently not based on market activity, but rather through particular valuation techniques.

The determination of where an asset or liability falls in the hierarchy requires significant judgment and considers factors specific to the asset or liability. In instances where the determination of the fair value measurement is based on inputs from different levels of the fair value hierarchy, the level in the fair value hierarchy within which the entire fair value measurement falls is based on the lowest level input that is significant to the fair value measurement in its entirety. The Company evaluates its hierarchy disclosures each quarter and, depending on various factors, it is possible that an asset or

liability may be classified differently from quarter to quarter. Changes in the type of inputs may result in a reclassification for certain assets. The Company does not expect that changes in classifications between levels will be frequent.