These two will gain from opening markets: Dream Office REIT & Russel Metals

Article Excerpt

The pandemic presented both of these firms with unique challenges. However, each has remained profitable and is well positioned to keep weathering the crisis—and to increasingly prosper as the economy reopens and rebounds. Meanwhile, their solid yields add appeal. Both are buys. DREAM OFFICE REIT, $30.00, is a buy. The REIT (Toronto symbol D.UN; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (www.dream.ca/office; Units outstanding: 47.5 million; Market cap: $1.5 billion; Dividend yield: 3.3%) sold 138 properties in 2016 as part of a new strategic plan. Due to those sales, in July 2017, Dream cut its monthly distribution by a third, to $0.0833 a unit from $0.125. The new annual rate of $1.00 yields a solid 3.3%. Dream now has 29 office properties, including one under development. The downtown Toronto market supplies 79% of the REIT’s rental revenue and accounts for 82% of the portfolio’s value. Its overall occupancy rate as of December 31, 2021, was 85.5%—89.6% at its downtown Toronto properties, and 78.5% in other markets. In the three…