JP Morgan Gives Color On First Industrial Realty Trust Following Earnings Release

First Industrial Realty Trust

reported core/operating Q1 FFO of $0.23/share which excludes $0.02 share restructuring charge and a $0.01/share loss on early debt retirement. The $0.23/share estimate was roughly a $0.02/share beat relative to JP Morgan's clean estimate of $0.21/share. Considering a ‘mixed bag' of estimates drove the $0.20 “consensus” estimate, it is difficult to know at this point exactly how the quarter stacked up versus the overall Street. Operationally, occupancy and lease spreads generally trended as JP Morgan expected, First Industry Realty Trust management maintained its operating outlook for the year. Deleveraging continued in Q1 driven by a $100 million equity raise and about $20 million of non-core dispositions. Bottom-line FFO/share guidance remained unchanged at $0.83-$0.93 despite the equity raise. On the G&A front, JP Morgan notes that the $5.3 million expense reported in 1Q11 implies a lower run rate relative to the 2011 annual guidance of $23 to $24 million provided at the 4Q10 conference call. JP Morgan has an $8 PT and Underweight rating on FR FR closed Wednesday at $12.40