Real estate investment trusts (REITs) were hammered in 2022. Rising interest rates, high inflation, and a slowing real estate market pushed the values of equity REITs down by 24% and mortgage REITs (mREITs) down by 26% over the past year.
2023 is looking much better for this asset class, as many beaten-up REIT stocks are rebounding. REITs can be a great investment. Not only have they historically outperformed other stocks over the long term, but they also pay above-average dividend yields.
If you're on the hunt for high-growth, high-yielding REITs to buy this February, you might want to consider Realty Income (O 1.46%), Iron Mountain (IRM -0.97%), Prologis (PLD -1.69%). Here's why these three stocks are worth considering this month.
1. Realty Income
Very few REITs have as impressive of a track record of dividend growth as Realty Income. The stock has raised the dividend it pays out annually for nearly 28 years, and it pays those dividends monthly. It also holds the title of largest net lease REIT, with over 11,700 properties in its portfolio.
The REIT primarily owns and leases retail properties, although it's expanding into other types of commercial real estate, too. Over the last few years, it spent roughly $13 billion on new acquisitions. Its impressive shopping spree expanded its presence in Europe and diversified its portfolio into new asset classes like industrial real estate and casinos.
Its full 2022 results will be reported this month, but its earnings through the third quarter are promising. Despite the slowdown in the market and challenges still weighing on certain retailers (theater operators in particular), the company is up by all key metrics year over year and quarter over quarter. This is thanks to the reliability of the net lease business model and management's massive acquisition efforts over the last few years.
The company also has a fantastic track record of dividend growth, low debt ratios, and plenty of coverage for its 4.3% yield. Since the stock remains down over the last three years, its valuation remains favorable at around 17 times its funds from operations (FFO). REITs use that metric similar to the way most companies use the price-to-earnings ratio. I bought shares of Realty Income in late 2022 and am looking forward to receiving reliable monthly income from that investment for years to come.
2. Iron Mountain
Iron Mountain is a specialty REIT that helps over 225,000 clients across the world store, organize, and safeguard physical assets such as art, collectibles, and important documents. The REIT also offers data management services like digitizing and storing records, and cloud-based asset management, and it has recently expanded into owning and operating data centers.
Iron Mountain is one of the few stocks that is up over the last year. It gained considerable attention from investors after seeing high demand for its storage and data management services. Over the past 12 months, the stock price is up 23.6%.
Its bread-and-butter physical asset business is doing great. After accounting for foreign exchange impacts, its revenue was up 6% year over year through the third quarter of 2022. However, its record growth was driven by its services business, which includes leasing activity from its data center facilities. Through the third quarter, its service revenue was up 35% year over year on a constant-currency basis.
Data center demand remains robust due to the trend toward hybrid and remote work. Iron Mountain's services play an important role in the digital economy, helping social media, streaming, e-commerce, and countless other industries operate smoothly. As more and more companies turn to technology to operate or expand their services, demand for data centers should remain healthy.
The stock currently pays a 4.3% yield and is trading at an attractive valuation of 14.5 times its adjusted funds from operations.
3. Prologis
With a market capitalization of $119 billion, Prologis is the largest publicly traded REIT. It's also the largest industrial real estate operator in the world, with an estimated $2.7 trillion of global gross domestic product flowing through its warehouses, distribution centers, and third-party logistics centers.
Normally, hot stocks like Prologis trade at notable premiums, but recent market conditions, including the growing concern that industrial real estate is at risk of oversupply in the coming years, sent the stock sinking in 2022. The company had lost as much as 25% at one point last year, but its positive full-year 2022 earnings have helped the stock rebound. At the time of this writing, the stock is only down 16% over the past 12 months, and is trading around 25 times its 2022 FFO.
A valuation of 25 times FFO is certainly not a screaming bargain compared to its peers on this list. Yet I still consider it one of the top stocks to buy today because of its long-term growth opportunities and the high demand the company is still seeing. Occupancy among its nearly 5,500 industrial properties is 98%. Lack of supply for industrial property coupled with high demand has pushed its net effective rents up by 50% since last year.
The company predicts its core operations will continue growing at a clip of 8% to 10% per year, and it's flush with cash to help it keep growing. The company has nine straight years of dividend increases under its belt, and its payouts currently yield around 2.4%. If you aren't invested in these top REITs, February would be the perfect time to add them to your portfolio.
