10 Equity REITs and Only 5 Are Buyable

Equity REITs

This week’s subscriber request series Tuesday covers 10 popular equity REITs. I will be covering 5 healthcare REITs, 3 specialized REITs 1 diversified REIT and 1 retail REIT. All of these REITs but one have investment grade ratings of BBB- or better. However, just like it is a market of stocks, it is also a market of REITs.

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From the perspective of valuation, only 3 of the 10 are attractive today. 3 of the other 7 are moderately overpriced and 4 of these REITs are expensive. As you might expect, the most highly regarded and popular REITs in this group – such as the monthly income company Realty income Corp. – are the ones that are overpriced.

For income investors, 7 of these 10 REITs offer current dividend yields in excess of 4%. Of those 7, 4 offer dividend yields over 5%, and my favorite in the group offers a dividend yield over 7%. One of the strongest selling points of investing in REITs is the prodigious amount of dividend income they produce. Consequently, they can really balance out a retirement portfolio by providing a yield boost.

Finally, I will be reviewing some of the issues that investors considering REITs need to be aware of. Perhaps the biggest of all is the amount of dilution that REITs tend to produce. In order to grow revenues, REITs need to invest in income-producing real estate. However, since they are required by law to pay out 90% of the distributable income, they typically must issue shares in the equity market to get the capital they need to grow.

In the FAST Graphs Analyze Out Loud Video I will be reviewing: Ventas Inc (VTR), Omega Healthcare (OHI), National Health (NHI), Medical Properties Trust (MPW), Healthcare Trust of America (HTA), Iron Mountain (IRM), Digital Realty Trust (DLR), American Tower Corp (AMT), WP Carey Inc. (WPC), Realty Income (O).

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