“This is as close as a businessman can get to the sort of feeling you might have if you were a pro athlete winning a third major in something.” – STORE Capital Corp STOR CEO, Chris Volk.
Speaking to Benzinga from New York where he and fellow STORE Capital Corp. executives had just become the first company to ring the opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange for 2015, Volk knows that “third time around” feeling.
A Higher Bar
That’s because STORE Capital Corp. represents the third company Volk has taken public since 1994.
It’s a process that does not get easier with time according to Volk.
“The bar for doing it (going public) just gets higher and higher,” he said, “Because you have to create a company that has a real reason for existing.
Providing Capital And Customer Service
First, Volk said, STORE Capital Corp. provides capital for profit center real estate.
Beyond that, and in Volk’s view equally important, is ongoing service following funding.
“People look at companies like ours,” he said, “and they see that on the left side of our balance sheet we have $2.8 billion worth of real estate – and we do. The first piece of that is to service the customer.”
Typical Customer
STORE mostly partners with private middle market companies with sales between $25 million and $300 million.
For a variety of reasons, these companies choose to rent real estate rather than own it, Volk said.
Why Go REIT?
“First is that they are trying to lock in long-term interest rates,” he said.
Second, according to Volk, is the fact that a real estate lease becomes a debt and equity substitute.
In other words, when a company chooses to rent their property, they don’t have to put up much equity into the real estate.
Finally, Volk said, because leasing is a debt and equity substitute, “contractual payment obligations with the term of the lease tend to be less than any kind of financing they could otherwise get.”
Assets Or Cash Flow?
Investors can become confused about whether they are investing in assets or cash flow when considering publicly traded REITs.
Kiplinger called REITs “chameleons,” saying, “When bonds are in favor, investors reward REITs by treating them as if they were bonds. When bonds fade and stocks ascend, the market regards REITs as if they were dividend-paying growth stocks.”
Despite this, according to Volk, most REIT research talks about net asset value – what the real estate is worth.
STORE Capital Corp. had 65 percent growth last year, and analysts expect about 27 percent balance sheet growth in 2015.
As far as the overall REIT sector is concerned, a dividend paying stock that shows healthy growth would likely provide a better risk-adjusted rate of return.
Looking Ahead
With publicly traded real estate companies representing an equity market capitalization of about $2 trillion and with boards of directors – not to mention activist investors – constantly reevaluating whether owing real estate is the most efficient way to be capitalized. Volk is hopeful about opportunities for REITs in general – and STORE Capital Corp. in particular -- in the coming new year.
“To date, there have been some companies like Darden Restaurants, Inc. DRI,” Volk said, “that did a sale-lease back with its Red Lobster portfolio. Hopefully STORE will play a constructive role in helping companies right-size their balance sheets.”
Reason To Be Optimistic
“We’ve done $1.1 billion worth of investments,” Volk said.“It’s a significant number.”
“The fact that we’ve done the kind of buying we have shows that we are hitting a nerve,” he noted.
“We’re meeting a need in the marketplace and we’re looking forward to this year with great excitement.”At the time of this writing, Jim Probasco had no position in any mentioned securities.
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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