Topic: How To Invest

Hi Pat: I’ve been looking for an investment related to the U.S. housing situation/recovery. The one stock I seem to be gravitating toward is Tricon Capital Group. As well, is there a U.S. housing ETF? Thanks.

Article Excerpt

Tricon Capital Group, $7.36, symbol TCN on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 90.5 million; Market cap: $674.3 million; www.triconcapital.com), is focused on North American residential real estate development. It has about $1.9 billion of assets under management. Tricon manages limited partnerships that provide financing to developers, usually in the form of loans, mainly for single- and multi-family construction and retail developed in conjunction with residential projects. Since its inception in 1988, Tricon has financed about 160 transactions for over $11 billion worth of developments. The company currently owns 22,500 single-family lots and 6,300 apartment units, as well as over 3,300 single-family rental homes in the U.S. About 80% of Tricon’s assets are in five U.S. markets (California, Phoenix, Atlanta, Charlotte and South Florida), and the other 20% are mostly in four Canadian cities (Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton). The stock will gain if U.S. housing recovers, but most of the company’s assets are in the hardest-hit U.S. real estate markets. That adds risk. The shares yield…