Topic: How To Invest

Pat: What’s your opinion of First Capital Realty?

Article Excerpt

First Capital Realty, $16.24, symbol FCR on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 92.1 million; Market cap: $1.5 billion), owns, develops and operates shopping centres throughout Canada. The company focuses on big cities, including Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver, Ottawa, Edmonton and Quebec City. It mainly operates in the four largest provincial economies: Ontario, Quebec, B.C. and Alberta. First Capital owns interests in 172 properties, including five under development. These add up to about 20.1 million square feet of leasable area. It also has six parcels of land that it plans to develop in the future. First Capital’s shopping centres are anchored by supermarkets. Its five largest tenants are Sobeys, Loblaw, Metro Inc., Shoppers Drug Mart and Zellers. The company also owns 14.1 million shares (or 18.5%) of Equity One (symbol EQY on New York), one of the largest shopping centre real-estate investment trusts (REITs) in the southern U.S. First Capital’s interest in Equity One is currently worth $194.7 million U.S. Equity One has interests in 160…