Topic: How To Invest

Is Cominar a reliable REIT at today’s price? Thank you.

Article Excerpt

Cominar REIT, $19.10, symbol CUF.UN on Toronto (Units outstanding: 125.5 million; Market cap: $2.4 billion; www.cominar.com), is Quebec’s largest commercial property owner. In all, Cominar owns 499 properties, including 120 office buildings, 157 shopping malls and 222 industrial and mixed-use buildings. These properties contain 36.9 million square feet of leasable space located in Montreal (51%), Quebec City (21%), the Atlantic provinces (12%), other parts of Quebec (5%), Western Canada (4%), the Ottawa/Gatineau region (4%) and Ontario (3%). Cominar’s occupancy rate is 93.4%. The trust continues to grow by acquisition. In the three months ended June 30, 2013, it bought 21 properties for a total of $168.9 million. That increased Cominar’s leasable space by 5.4%. Contributions from these new properties pushed up the trust’s revenue by 19.5% in the quarter, to $167.8 million from $140.4 million a year earlier. Cash flow rose 14.3%, to $53.9 million from $47.2 million. Because of more units outstanding, cash flow per unit fell 4.4%, to $0.43 from $0.45. Cominar…