MAGUIRE

Maguire (MPG) is an office REIT that operates in southern California. Its shares have struggled dropping about 90% in the last 52 weeks. At the end of 2008 indiscriminate selling created an interesting opportunity in the Maguire series A preferred stock (MPG.PA). The A up until 4^th quarter 2008 paid a .47 cent a quarter dividend.

A few months ago I wrote about New England Realty Associates (NEN), an apartment building operator in Boston. I want to update the situation a bit.

The stock has recovered from 67 to about 78 dollars. Since they initiated a stock buyback program they have bought back 325,000 shares, representing almost 20% of outstanding shares. NEN still has the ability to buy back 175,000 shares but are limited by volume restrictions.

To be certain, some homebuilders will go through bankruptcies before this credit debacle is over. But here is a trade where you should win big if Hovnanian (HOV) survives and break even if it goes bankrupt.

Real estate companies got crushed in 2007 and market participants punished all real estate companies in an indiscriminate fashion. Opportunity presents itself in situations like this. The company I'm going to discuss is a thinly traded stock with a market cap close to 110 million dollars.