Major-city focus gives you a big advantage

Article Excerpt

These two REITs own some of the best properties in Canada’s biggest cities. Despite the disruptions caused by the work from home and online shopping trends, those high-quality holdings should continue to attract tenants. ALLIED PROPERTIES REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST, $20.10, is a buy. The REIT (Toronto symbol AP.UN; Units outstanding: 128.0 million; Market cap: $2.8 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 9.0%; www.alliedreit.com) owns 200 office buildings and 13 properties under development, mainly in major Canadian cities. Its occupancy rate is 86.8%. In August 2023, Allied sold its three datacentres in downtown Toronto for $1.35 billion. It plans to use $1.0 billion of the proceeds to pay down its debt of $3.83 billion (as of September 30, 2023). The REIT sold a Montreal property for $20.0 million. Allied’s revenue in the quarter ended September 30, 2023, rose 5.0%, to $138.5 million from $131.8 million a year earlier. However, its cash flow fell 1.4% due to higher interest expenses, to $83.6 million, or $0.598 a unit,…