This top REIT is a buy

Article Excerpt

CHOICE PROPERTIES REIT, $14.60, is a buy. Canada’s biggest REIT (Toronto symbol CHP.UN; Units ooutstanding: 723.8 million; Market cap: $10.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 5.3%; www.choicereit.ca) owns 705 retail, industrial, office space and residential properties with 67.2 million square feet of gross leasable area. Its occupancy rate is a high 97.6%. George Weston Ltd. (Toronto symbol WN) owns 61.7% of the trust. With the April 2025 payment, Choice raised your monthly distribution by 1.3%. The new annual rate of $0.77 a unit yields a high 5.3% for investors. The REIT is now developing 20 new properties—18 retail, one industrial and one residential. It has already spent $82.7 million on these properties and expects to spend a further $243.1 million over the next two years. The REIT’s units currently trade at a reasonable 13.8 times the projected 2025 cash flow of $1.06 a unit. Choice Properties REIT is a buy. buy…