Asset sales support their distributions

Article Excerpt

These two REITs continue to sell their surplus properties. That lets them focus on their more-promising assets and on maintaining their distributions. DREAM OFFICE REIT $14 is a buy. The REIT (Toronto symbol D.UN; Cyclical-Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio; Manufacturing sector; Units outstanding: 51.1 million; Market cap: $715.4 million; Dividend yield: 7.1%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Average; www.dream.ca) sold 138 properties in 2016 as part of a new strategic plan. Due to those sales, in July 2017, it cut its monthly distribution to $0.0833 a unit from $0.125. The annual rate of $1.00 nonetheless yields a high 7.1%. Dream now has 28 office properties, including two under development. The downtown Toronto market supplies 78% of the REIT’s rental revenue, accounting for 82% of the portfolio’s value. Its overall occupancy rate as of December 31, 2022, was 84.4%—that reflects 87.7% for its downtown Toronto properties and 78.8% for its other markets. Revenue in the three months ended December 31, 2022, rose 3.0%, to $27.3 million from $26.5 million a year…