Topic: How To Invest

Pat: Could I please have your opinion on The Howard Hughes Corp.? Thanks for your advice.

Article Excerpt

The Howard Hughes Corp., $73.50, symbol HHC on New York (Shares outstanding: 37.9 million; Market cap: $2.8 billion; www.howardhughes.com), owns 34 commercial, residential and mixed-use properties in 18 U.S. states. General Growth Properties (symbol GGP on New York), a real estate investment trust (REIT) that went bankrupt during the financial crisis, handed out shares of Howard Hughes as part of its restructuring in 2010. The assets held by Howard Hughes required development and considerable funding. That made them a poor fit with a U.S. REIT, which must pay out 90% of its operating profit as a dividend. Prominent U.S. investor Bill Ackman is the chairman of Howard Hughes. He also owns about 10% of the company through his Pershing Square Capital Management firm. (Incidentally, Pershing Square also owns 14.2% of CP Rail and recently succeeded in replacing seven of CP’s 16 directors with its own nominees. It also appointed Hunter Harrison, the successful former CEO of CN Rail, as CP’s chief executive). Howard…