In the spirit of sharing which we have in this community I offered, and Stockcentral accepted, to post an updated REIT presentation I created a few years ago. I hope you find this helpful if you have an interest in researching REITS. If you have any questions or want to raise a point on the subject bring it here and we'll throw some REIT related ideas around. Go here http://www.stockcentral.com/learn/learninglibrary/tabid/180/Default.aspx and scroll down to the presentation. It's free to all members. I hope you enjoy!

Hi Danny,

When I try to download the PowerPoint of the REIT presentation all that comes is the GIF image.

I also tried to "right click, Save AS" the file, but I just get the GIF file too.

What am I doing wrong?

Gary Simms, Decatur, IL

Hi Gary,

You'll need to click the "Download" link to the right of  "ratings", not the PPT icon/graphic to the left.

Dave

I am not able to download the REIT presentation either.  When clicking on the download button at the bottom right the download I get is the entire Stock Central page of the 'Learning Library".  I have ppt software so this shouldn't be the problem.

Thanks

Karen

Hi Karen,

I've never seen that one!  The link works in my attempts with Firefox and IE browsers, but i get the same thing using Safari browser (PC).  Please attempt it using Firefox.  We do not currently support the Safari browser.  Lemme know if still any troubles, thanks!

dave

Thanks - Firefox worked just fine.

Thanks too, Danny for sharing the presentation.

Hi Robert thanks for the kudos, regarding the EPS use of REITS what I do is get as many years of FFO's and go into the data screen and put that in in place of EPS. Be forewarned that you won't get a  compatible PERT because doing this you only have annual data. On the subject of non recurring revenue. If a REIT sells or buys property you would probably have to go the the company website and drill down to see what drove the revenue growth. Prologis, PLD, gives six years of this information http://ir.prologis.com/investors/annual_supp.cfm?year=2008 . REITs do give investors who wish to research a lot more work than just the click of the button. This link gives a discussion of where the money comes from and what they expect of their properties. http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/PLD/240369129x0x167226/7a79668f-9437-44a3-ab64-6d17046fc096/2008AssumptionTable.pdf .

When I am looking REITS I usually keep the book mentioned in the PPT "Invest in REIT's" by Ralph Block near my desk. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/104-2501561-1230325?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=ralph+block+invest+in+reits&x=16&y=17 Page 72 describes cap rate which is a way to gauge the return on the cost of the investment property. Page 164-167 describes the Adjusted FFO,AFFO, which basically takes out capital expenditures that do not enhance the value of the property, i.e. basic upkeep. All in all I believe these are a worthy investment for tax exempt IRA's. Investors do not get the capital gains rate on REIT's in taxable accounts so be aware of that  if taxes are an issue with you.

As a disclaimer I own PLD.

BTW www.manifestinvesting.com has PLD with a Quality rating of 73.7 and a PAR of 14.1. CAPS allstars have it as an outperform by a 3-1 margin.

Latest news on REITS http://seekingalpha.com/article/64203-housing-market-tracker-some-reits-slow-down-some-speed-up?source=yaho

Robert, yes the debt ratio is high but they have been expanding their properties nd they may be taking advantage of lower real estate pricing  to build a better position for the future. As of their latest post on the site they do have investment grade ratings http://ir.prologis.com/investors/debt_ratings.cfm . Looking at the Ratio Analyzer I don't think tells the true financial story. When I scrolled down to look at cash positions most the the financial reports had zeros so the data I would say is incomplete. Here are some of the expansions mentioned at  http://ir.prologis.com/investors/reports/2006_highlights.html . Here they explain what they are doing with cash and use of credit lines. this may be a good time when companies can get lines of credit at better rates and save future interest expense by getting lower rates. As mentioned in the PPT, companies that have good financial stability are more likely to be able to use this to their benefit.

As far as the WSJ article I couldn't read the whole article as it was for subscribers. Where the interest of mgt is aligned I believe the owners who own many shares would want to be able to maintain the dividend and raise it over time. I believe PLD has raised it 13 consecutive years. At the dividend rate of $2.07 those who own a million or so shares are looking at a nice sized paycheck every quarter. At this time theya re at a payout ratio of 49%, it is my understanding they will have to increase this to 90% to maintain the tax status as a REIT. If I am wrong I hope someone will shed a little more light on this.

Danny & Robert - here is a link http://www.denverpost.com/business

to an article appearing in today's Denver Post on PLD.  I own stock in the company and found the article quite interesting re. their foreign investments.

Karen

Thanks Karen this really spells out the expansion plans