With the stock market sell-off, it is time to take a look at some high-quality companies that have been beaten up. The real estate investment trust (REIT) sector is a great place for income investors to look for bargains and yield. Here are a couple of REITs that are trading at attractive multiples and yields.
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Alexandria specializes in building laboratories
Alexandria Real Estate Equities (ARE 0.13%) is a real estate investment trust that specializes in office space for life sciences companies. These spaces often include sophisticated laboratories, which means most office REITs simply are not able to provide space that meets the specifications of these tenants. Office REITs in general have been under a cloud since the beginning of the pandemic, since working from home was so successful. That said, work from home is more difficult for life sciences companies, which require special lab workspaces and a more collaborative environment.
The company guided for 2022 funds from operations (FFO) per share to come in between $8.33 and $8.43 per share, which gives a midpoint of $8.38 per share. REITs generally use funds from operations instead of earnings per share, because depreciation and amortization is a huge non-cash charge which understates the actual cash flows of the company. At current levels, this means Alexandria is trading at 17.2 times guided FFO per share, which is an attractive multiple for a first-in-class company.
The stock also has an attractive dividend yield of 3.6%. The annual dividend of $4.60 is more than amply covered by its $8.38 in guided FFO per share. The payout ratio (basically the dividend divided by the earnings) of 55% is low for a REIT. However, it means that Alexandria is using funds for investment as opposed to dividends. This sets the stage for dividend hikes going forward.
Prologis is a logistics REIT giant
Prologis (PLD -1.57%) is a logistics REIT that owns high-quality warehouse and storage space in attractive markets. If you drive along an interstate, you will probably see massive spaces with dozens of truck bays. These properties generally house inventory for retailers.
Prologis was a big COVID-19 pandemic play as more retail spending moved online. Amazon.com is the company's largest customer. Amazon did mention that it over-invested in warehouse space during the COVID-19 pandemic and will be looking to sublet some of its space. This has caused sentiment to become less bullish for the stock. However, the long-term story of Prologis remains intact -- and that is a rethinking of corporate inventory management.
The COVID-19 pandemic shined a light on the vulnerabilities of extended supply chains. Shortages of materials have been a common refrain in economic reports like the Institute for Supply Management surveys or the National Federation of Independent Businesses' small business sentiment surveys. Regardless of Amazon's warehouse capacity issues, Corporate America will need additional warehouse space, and Prologis has properties in the most attractive markets.
Prologis recently announced a merger where the company is buying Duke Realty (DRE). This transaction will give Prologis additional properties in southern California, New Jersey, southern Florida, Chicago, Dallas, and Atlanta. The transaction will increase Prologis's FFO per share between $0.20 and $0.25 annually. Prologis guided for 2022 core FFO per share to come in between $5.10 and $5.16 per share. This gives the company a multiple of 23 times guided FFO per share. The company also yields 2.6%, which is historically attractive for the stock. Prologis is a world-class logistics operator trading at a much more attractive multiple.
