Resource Capital Corp.: Insider Buying, Dividend Make It Attractive

I recently purchased some shares of Resource Capital Corp. (RSO) which pays a nice dividend and is a good fit for an IRA. It's 12 month yield is 9.58%.

Resource Capital Corp. is a commercial real estate specialty finance company that qualifies as a real estate investment trust. RCC invests in commercial real estate-related assets and some higher-yielding commercial finance assets. In September, 2006, the company sold off its entire Agency Residential Mortgage Backed portfolio [RMBS] and redeployed the equity into its growing and higher yielding commercial mortgage loan platform. But Mr. Market seemed to "forget" this and RSO's stock price got hurt by the sub-prime mortgage problems that surfaced in February 2007.

There has been considerable insider buying of RSO this year-

1) Leon Cooperman bought $3.1 million in January.

2) Director Walter Beach has made three recent purchases in May totalling $2.7 million.

In a May 7 press release, the CEO stated:

We continue to anticipate moving the dividend up substantially over the next three quarters as we invest the capital raised in the December 2006 offering.

RSO had a secondary offering at $16.50 per share in December 2006. I think the stock is attractive at $16.50 or less. I would look to start scaling out of RSO if the price exceeds $20.

Full Disclosure: I am long RSO.

RSO 1-yr chart:

Comments

[C. Prunkl:]

The stock resembles a Ponzi scheme. Dividends are financed by common stock issuance and borrowings. "Scaling out" at $20 doesn't strike me as being a "long" position.

2007 Jun 05 08:17 AM