Two of our favourite REITs

Article Excerpt

CANADIAN REIT $33.46 (Toronto symbol REF.UN; Units outstanding: 66.5 million; Market cap: $2.3 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 4.3%; www.creit.ca) owns over 160 properties, including retail, industrial and office buildings located across Canada and in the Chicago area. These properties contain over 22 million square feet of leasable area. Its occupancy rate is 94.2%. In the three months ended March 31, 2010, the real estate investment trust’s revenue fell slightly, to $81.3 million from $81.7 million a year earlier. Cash flow per unit fell 7.1%, to $0.52 from $0.56. Canadian REIT provides high-interest loans to developers who are building properties that it might take an interest in. It is now making fewer of these loans; that was the main reason for the lower results. Instead, the REIT is focusing on buying lower-risk properties that will provide long-term cash flows. For example, it recently agreed to buy two fully leased malls in Mississauga, Ontario, for $171.0 million. The REIT has just raised…