Formerly one of the more popular marijuana stocks on the market, real estate investment trust (REIT) Innovative Industrial Properties (IIPR 0.77%) isn't making investors too happy. After market close on Wednesday, the company released its fourth-quarter 2020 results, and they fell short of analyst expectations.
For the period, Innovative's total revenue was $37.09 million, more than double the $17.67 million it earned in the same quarter the preceding year. The dynamic was similar for net profit, which rose to just under $21 million, from the year-ago quarterly figure of $9.56 million, or $0.91 per share.
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Adjusted funds from operations (AFFO), considered a truer measure of profitability for REITs, doubled and then some to roughly $32.4 million.
Prognosticators following the stock, however, were forecasting loftier headline numbers. They had estimated Innovative would post $38.5 million on the top line and $1.07 in per-share net profit.
As a REIT, much of Innovative's growth during the quarter came from new properties in its portfolio. It closed deals on nine properties, in well-established or high-potential marijuana states such as California and Massachusetts.
The company typically purchases real estate in sale-leaseback deals, under which the erstwhile owner remains a tenant. Ideally this is a win-win for Innovative and its counterparty, as the former adds another property to its portfolio, and the latter gets a pile of cash to help fund its operations.
Innovative was quite a dog of a stock on Thursday in the wake of the earnings release. Disappointed investors had pushed its price down by 15% in midafternoon trading; by comparison, the S&P 500 index was only off by 1.8%.
