How to Analyze a REIT

Real estate investment trusts (REITs) offer investors an accessible way to participate in the real estate market without owning physical property. By pooling funds to invest in income-generating assets such as apartment buildings, shopping centers, office spaces, or industrial warehouses, REITs provide a unique blend of real estate and stock market characteristics.

Analyzing a REIT is crucial for determining its suitability for your portfolio, as not all REITs perform alike. A thorough evaluation involves examining key factors like dividend yields, financial stability, property portfolio, management effectiveness, and market trends. This process ensures that your investment aligns with your financial goals, risk tolerance, and market outlook.

This guide will outline the essential steps and metrics to assess when analyzing a REIT, empowering you to make informed investment decisions in this dynamic sector.

Information Needed to Analyze a REIT

Gather some information before you can begin analyzing a REIT. Most of this can be found in the investor relations section of the company’s website or by searching company filings through the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) database.

Some of the key pieces of information to examine can be found by looking at:

• 10-K (annual report filed with the SEC)
• 10-Q (quarterly report filed with the SEC)
• Quarterly supplemental report
• Investor presentation
• Real estate portfolio details
• Press releases

Locating this information before you start analyzing a REIT can make the process a lot simpler and less time-consuming.

Check the Company’s Real Estate Portfolio

When you’re investing in a REIT, you are investing in a portfolio of income-producing real estate. Most REITs provide information on the real estate portfolio and who its top tenants are in the company’s investor presentation. When analyzing a REIT, you should look at the following:

• Tenants
• Lease terms
• Rent
• Acquisitions and dispositions
• Valuation metrics

Valuation Metrics You Can Use to Analyze a REIT

The REIT may look like a solid investment once you’ve examined its real estate portfolio, but you want to make sure you won’t be overpaying for the REIT stock. The share price of a REIT tends to move toward its value, so an overpriced REIT has a higher risk of falling in price. Likewise, REITs that are priced at a discount are more likely to increase in price.

You can use several valuation metrics to compare the value of the REIT to its current stock price. Some of the metrics are discussed below:

Funds From Operations (FFO)

A REIT’s reported net income rarely provides a clear picture of how much money it actually made and how much money you can expect it to make during the next quarter or year.

One of the main reasons for this is the depreciation expense. Depreciation reduces a company’s taxable income, even though it’s not an actual cash expense. It’s also a significant write-off in many cases, so its impact on the reported net income can be substantial.

Another thing that can affect the net income is the capital gains or losses from the sale of property. While these gains and losses are real, they’re not indicative of how much cash flow you can expect the REIT to generate in the future.

To provide a clear picture of the true earnings, REIT investors use a metric called funds from operation (FFO). FFO adds depreciation and amortization expenses back to the net income and removes gains or losses from the sale of real estate.

Formula of FFO

FFO = Net income + depreciation and amortization - gains or losses on sales of real estate

FFO per share = FFO/shares outstanding

Price to FFO

Once you have the REIT’s FFO per share, you can calculate its price to FFO multiple. This is a valuation metric used to compare the value of a REIT to its peers. 

You need the FFO per share for a full 12 months. You can either:

• Annualize it with the most recent quarter 
• Add the FFO per share for the past 4 quarters
• Use the most recent annual report to get the FFO per share for the full year

Once you have an annual FFO per share, you simply divide the current share price by the FFO per share to get the price to FFO multiple. You’ll then do the same thing for the REIT’s peers and calculate an average price to FFO multiple. 

Share price / FFO per share = price to FFO multiple

The average multiple you come up with will be the value based on the price to FFO multiple. You can use this value to see if the REIT you’re analyzing is priced at a discount or a premium to its peers. 

Adjusted Funds From Operations (AFFO)

Adjusted funds from operations, often called adjusted FFO or AFFO, provides further adjustments to a REIT’s FFO and is considered an even more accurate measure of a company’s performance. However, it’s important to note that each company calculates AFFO a little differently. 

Since the AFFO calculation is different between REITs, it’s not common to compare the price to AFFO of one REIT to another. Instead, REIT investors will often use this figure to analyze the performance of a REIT over time and look for growth or decline in AFFO and AFFO per share. 

If a REIT is suddenly priced at a lower price to AFFO multiple than it normally trades at, it may be a signal that it's a good time to buy.

Net Asset Value (NAV)

The net asset value, or NAV, for a REIT, calculates the fair market value of the company’s assets and subtracts liabilities. This is similar to the book value of other companies, but just like net income, book value isn’t an accurate metric for REIT valuation. 

The idea behind NAV is that the value of a REIT should be based on the current market value of its assets, so its shares on the stock market should be priced accordingly. If you were purchasing a real estate portfolio yourself you probably wouldn't want to overpay for it, so you shouldn't overpay when buying shares in a REIT either.

Below are some of the formulas that you will need to use to determine the net asset value of a REIT.

Rental revenue - property expenses = NOI

Cap rate / NOI = estimated property value

Real estate value + cash + other tangible assets = total asset value

Total asset value - liabilities = NAV

NAV/shares outstanding = NAV per share

Finally, you can compare the current share price to the NAV per share to see if the REIT’s stock is trading at a discount or a premium to its NAV. 

Other factors that should be considered when calculating NAV are the expected capital expenditure expenses, adjustments to straight-line rent, and properties that the REIT plans to sell during the current year. 

Dividend Discount Model (DDM)

The dividend discount model uses the theory that the value of a REIT today is equivalent to its future dividend payments discounted to present value. This method is useful for larger REITs with consistent dividend growth over a long period of time. 

There are different variations of the dividend discount model, but the most commonly used one for REITs is the Gordon growth model. To calculate the value of a REIT based on this model you’ll need to:

• Determine the expected dividend rate for the next year (d)
• Estimate the dividend growth rate (g)
• Know your required rate of return (r)

You will then divide the dividend rate for the next year by the required rate of return minus the projected growth rate. 

d / (r-g) = value

You can either use your own required rate of return to determine what the particular REIT is worth to you, or you can research data to determine the market’s current required rate of return. 

Discounted Cash Flow Model

The discounted cash flow model determines the present value of a REIT’s future free cash flow using a discount rate. 

For example, if you were to invest $100 at a 10% rate of return the investment would be worth $110 in one year. Similarly, if somebody owes you $100 and waits one year to pay you, the present value of that $100 is only $90 since you’re unable to invest it. 

This model requires you to make assumptions based on the future cash flow of the REIT over a selected time period and the appropriate discount rate. 

Factors to Consider When Analyzing a REIT

Now that you know about the valuation metrics that can be used to analyze a REIT, here are a few factors that should be considered before you decide on the REIT that you want to invest in.

Dividends

Dividends are one of the things that make REIT stocks so attractive to many investors. However, a REIT’s current dividend yield alone won’t give you an accurate picture of what you can expect to receive from future payouts, though. You’ll want to look at the company’s dividend history and its payout ratio. 

Dividend History

One important thing to look at is the history of the REIT’s dividend payouts over the past several years. Ideally, there would be consistent increases each year meaning future increases are more likely. Buying a REIT that has a 5% dividend yield at today’s share price could result in a yield of 8% in 10 years if the company increases its dividend by 5% per year. 

Payout Ratio

The payout ratio for a REIT is based on its FFO per share. This looks at how much of the company’s FFO is being paid to shareholders in dividends. A high payout ratio could mean the dividend is at risk of being cut. Even if the REIT doesn’t cut dividends, it’s probably less likely that they will be increasing them. 

A lower payout ratio means the REIT’s dividend payments are well covered and the company is keeping more capital that it can use to grow. It also means there’s room for dividend increases. 

The ratio you’re looking for depends on your personal investment objective. If you’re primarily investing for dividend income you’ll likely be more comfortable with a higher payout ratio. On the other hand, if you’re looking for growth you’ll want to look for a more conservative payout. 

As a general rule of thumb, the ideal payout ratio will be below 80% with anything below 70% being considered more conservative. 

Debt

It’s necessary for a REIT to have its debt in order to fund and grow its operations. This is especially true since they’re required to pay out at least 90% of their taxable income as dividends, limiting the amount of cash they can retain to fund acquisitions. 

Other than being a necessary tool to grow, debt allows companies to earn a higher return than by purchasing everything with cash. This is especially true with real estate since the cash-on-cash return on investment is almost always significantly higher than the cap rate. 

However, too much debt can create problems for a REIT. As debt increases, so does the amount of the loan payments. If a company’s debt service gets too high it can become difficult to cover all of its expenses, pay dividends, or purchase more properties. 

Debt to EBITDA Ratio

One of the simplest and most effective ways to analyze a REIT’s debt is to look at its debt to EBITDA ratio. EBITDA stands for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. 

The common way to calculate this debt ratio is to use the company’s net debt, which is total debt minus available cash. You also need to annualize the EBITDA. The net debt to EBITDA formula looks like this:

Net debt / EBITDA = net debt to EBITDA ratio

A higher ratio means higher leverage and more risk. A good rule of thumb is to look for a ratio between 4x and 6x. A ratio above 6x could indicate that the REIT is carrying too much debt. A ratio below 4x could indicate that the REIT is too conservative with debt and is spending more of its own cash than it needs to. 

Debt Maturity Schedule

Besides the debt-to-EBITDA ratio, you’ll also want to look at the REIT’s debt maturity schedule. This will tell how much debt is maturing each year over the next several years.

The ideal scenario is a well-staggered debt maturity schedule, meaning the amount that must be paid off each year is consistent. Having a large portion of the total debt due within the next couple of years could mean a higher chance of the company issuing more shares, which will dilute any shares you buy, or they won’t be able to increase dividends. If the debt that’s due is high enough, it could even mean the dividends are at risk of being cut.

Interest Rate

Another piece to consider when looking at a REIT’s debt profile is the cost of that debt. The company’s debt schedule will typically provide a weighted average interest rate for each type of loan. This comes into play when analyzing the risk based on the REIT’s debt-to-EBITDA ratio and its debt maturity schedule.

For instance, a large amount of debt maturing in the next year may actually be a good thing if it’s at a higher interest rate than what the REIT will be able to refinance it for. You can also look at the company’s interest coverage ratio. This formula calculates the REIT’s interest expenses compared to its EBITDA. The formula looks like this:

EBITDA / interest expense = interest coverage ratio

Many REIT investors and analysts consider an interest coverage ratio of 3x to be the benchmark. The higher the ratio, the more capital the REIT has available to cover its interest expenses. Anything below 2.5x could indicate a high level of risk. 

Management

A REIT’s management team is essential to the future success of the company. These are the people who decide how the REIT operates, how it manages its real estate portfolio, and how it manages its debt. You can analyze a REIT’s management by looking at how they’ve navigated different market conditions in their current role and how well they performed in previous roles. 

You also want to pay close attention to recent changes in senior executive roles. Additionally, be cautious of REITs that are externally managed, meaning they hire a third party to handle all of the asset management. While this isn’t necessarily a negative in all cases, you have to realize that a third party will never be as invested in the success of the portfolio as a REIT’s internal management. 

Another issue with external management can be conflicts of interest that arise since they likely manage assets for the REIT’s competitors as well. 

Use Your Instincts Before Taking the Final Plunge

When you’re researching how to analyze a REIT there is one thing that most experts forget to mention — use your instincts. Perhaps all the numbers look great, but management’s projections on growth just don’t make sense to you. Or perhaps you don’t agree with what the experts think the demand is going to be for a particular property type over the next several years.

You shouldn’t have to talk yourself into making an investment. If it doesn’t feel good, it’s probably best to leave it alone and move on to the next one.

Frequently Asked Questions