Digital Realty Trust Has Bucked Broader REIT Sector Weakness

Image: Digital Realty Trust has outperformed the broader REIT sector by quite the margin since the beginning of 2023. By Brian Nelson, CFA Real estate investors have had a difficult time the past year, with shares of the Vanguard Real Estate Index ETF (VNQ) falling roughly 6% versus a 22%+ return on the S&P 500 (SPY), both measured on a price-only basis. Data center REIT Digital Realty (DLR), however, has bucked the trend of the broader real estate sector’s weakness advancing 20% over the same time period on a price only basis. Digital Realty’s fourth-quarter results and guidance for 2024, released February 15, weren’t great, but the company is much better positioned than other REITs, in our view. Shares yield … Read more

American Tower Ups Dividend Payout 6%+ But Shares Not Immune to REIT Sector Weakness

Image Source: American Tower By Brian Nelson, CFA On December 8, American Tower (AMT) upped its quarterly payout by 6.1%, to $1.56 per share relative to its last sequential dividend issued in October, and now shares yield ~2.9% on a forward estimated basis. Equity REITs have been pummeled in 2022, and AMT has unfortunately failed to buck the trend. Though we like the scale and leverage inherent to cell tower stocks’ business models (which we’ll talk about in this work), we’re taking note of weakening adjusted funds from operations (FFO) and free cash flow trends at AMT, particularly in light of the tower operator’s massive net debt position. Interest rates have been working against REITs during 2022. Image Source: American … Read more

American Tower Beats Estimates and Raises Guidance

Image Shown: An overview of American Tower Corporation’s global asset base. Image Source: American Tower Corporation – First Quarter of 2022 IR Earnings Presentation By Callum Turcan American Tower Corporation (AMT) is a real estate investment trust (‘REIT’) with a global portfolio of ~221,000 multi-tenant communications properties. We include American Tower as an idea in the High Yield Dividend Newsletter portfolio as its dividend growth track record and outlook are rock-solid. Shares of AMT yield ~2.3% as of this writing. Historically, the REIT has generated substantial “excess” free cash flows (after fully covering its total distribution obligations). Looking ahead, American Tower should continue to be a cash flow cow, highlighting one of the reasons we are big fans of the REIT. … Read more

High-Yielding American Tower Is a Free Cash Flow Cow

Image Shown: American Tower Corporation operates the tower structure and related land parcel of cell tower assets, while its tenants handle the remainder. Image Source: American Tower Corporation – Third Quarter of 2021 IR Earnings Presentation By Callum Turcan Rising geopolitical tensions, inflationary headwinds, supply chain hurdles, and pressures from the rising interest rate environment are all weighing negatively on equity markets. Through the end of normal trading hours on February 19, the S&P 500 (SPY) is down over 9% and the Vanguard Real Estate Index Fund ETF (VNQ) is down over 11% year-to-date on a price only basis. In our view, this selloff presents an opportunity for investors with a longer term focus to consider high-quality REITs such as … Read more

High-Yielding Idea CyrusOne Gets Bought!

Image Shown: CyrusOne, an idea in the High Yield Dividend Newsletter portfolio, announced it was getting bought out on November 15. By Callum Turcan CyrusOne (CONE), a data center real estate investment trust (‘REIT’) included as an idea in the High Yield Dividend Newsletter portfolio, announced on November 15 that the private equity firm KKR & Co Inc (KKR) and the infrastructure investment fund Global Infrastructure Partners (‘GIP’) is buying the REIT for $90.50 per share in cash. Overview According to the press release, the ~$15 billion deal (including the assumption of debt) is expected to close by the second quarter of 2022 and has already been unanimously approved by CyrusOne’s board of directors. CyrusOne’s shareholders still need to approve of … Read more

High-Yielding Crown Castle Is One of Our Favorite REITs

Image Shown: We include Crown Castle International Corp as an idea in our High Yield Dividend Newsletter portfolio. Image Source: Crown Castle International Corp – October 2021 IR Presentation By Callum Turcan Crown Castle International Corp (CCI) is a real estate investment trust (‘REIT’) that owns and operates cell towers, fiber networks, and small cell nodes in the US. These assets form the backbone of wireless infrastructure and are key to enabling the domestic rollout of 5G networks and supporting existing 4G networks. We include shares of CCI in our High Yield Dividend Newsletter portfolio as we are big fans of its strong dividend coverage (when taking its ability to tap capital markets into account), impressive growth outlook, and high-quality … Read more