- It's smelling like a top in real estate to Laszlo Birinyi, who wonders why investor interest and outperformance is enough to merit a separate S&P classification for REITs (specifically, equity REITs; mortgage REITs will remain in the financials).
- He compares the move to the the decision to add Apple to the DJIA after its near-1000% rise from the March 2009 bottom. Since, Apple is the worst-performing name in that index, with a total return of negative 12.9%.
- Up 348% from the 2009 bottom, REITs are trading at 45x earnings - "not a compelling purchase," says Birinyi.
- Besides, says Birinyi, there are plenty of ETFs out there through which investors can already get easy exposure to REITs. This move, he says, is about benefitting S&P, which should be able to earn licensing fees from the funds.
- ETFs: VNQ, IYR, DRN, RQI, URE, SCHH, ICF, RWR, SRS, RNP, RFI, JRS, KBWY, NRO, DRV, RIT, RIF, REK, FRI, DRA, FTY, FREL, LRET, PSR, WREI, XLRE, IARAX