RioCan remains our top REIT

Article Excerpt

RIOCAN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $24 (Toronto symbol REI.UN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Units outstanding: 327.2 million; Market cap: $7.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 6.5; Dividend yield: 5.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.riocan. com) owns all or part of 299 shopping centres and other properties in Canada. That includes 15 properties now under development. In all, the REIT controls 45 million square feet of rentable space. Its overall occupancy rate is a high 96.7%. RioCan’s revenue rose 3.6% in the three months ended June 30, 2017, to $285.6 million from $275.7 million a year earlier. The gain was partly due to new property acquisitions. As well, 93.9% of the REIT’s tenants signed new leases in the quarter, many with higher rents. That pushed up the average rental rate per square foot by 4.7% from a year earlier. Thanks mainly to the increased revenue, cash flow in the quarter gained 9.8%, to $0.45 per Rio- Can unit from $0.41. To cut…