Q: Can I get your thoughts on this stock at its current price and can you comment on the managment’s strategy to divest off parts of its portfolio.
How much do you think recent sell off is stock specific vs sector
In general when would expect REITs to come back in favour
How much do you think recent sell off is stock specific vs sector
In general when would expect REITs to come back in favour
5i Research Answer:
FCR continues to have high occupancy and net operating income rose 4% in the Q1. It is buying back stock and we think the divestitures make sense to clean up the portfolio. Valuation is low at 11X cash flow. Payout ratio is high, but drops to 91% if we exclude costs from its fight with activist shareholders recently. There is not a lot of growth here, but we think at least 60% of the decline is just sector related. It has traded badly for two weeks, but on no new news. On the sector, we expect better things when rates peak, likely later this year. Commercial real estate vacancies remain very high though and that sub-sector will likely stay weak.