These REITs offer sustainable payouts

Article Excerpt

CANADIAN REIT $46 (Toronto symbol REF.UN; Cyclical- Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Units outstanding: 73.3 million; Market cap: $3.4 billion; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.1%; www.creit.ca) owns 204 properties across Canada and the city of Chicago. They include retail (55% of income), industrial (23%) and office buildings (22%). In all, they total 25.5 million square feet, and the trust’s occupancy rate is 94.7%. Canadian REIT’s top five tenants by rental revenue are Canadian Tire, Loblaw, Suncor, TJX (parent of Winners), and Sobeys. Its top three markets are Alberta (38% of its income), Ontario (28%) and Atlantic Canada (12%). The trust continues to pay monthly distributions of $0.1558 a unit. The annual rate of $1.87 yields a high 4.1%. The current rate seems sustainable: in the latest quarter, distributions accounted for 59.5% of cash flow. In the three months ended June 30, 2017, the trust’s revenue rose 5.0%, to $116.9 million from $111.3 million a year earlier. Cash…