Q3 2009 Earnings Call

November 5, 2009; 02:00 pm ET

Equity REITs have made a strong move lately. We have expressed our doubts about the wisdom of that move (Are REITs Ahead of Themselves?), and wonder about the quality of the underlying trusts.

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The market continues to slowly inch forward, but there are still a lot of bargains out there. While the prospects for real estate continue to appear dim, many REITs are still worthwhile investments as the market has already priced the equivalent of a commercial real estate apocalypse into many securities. Even if there are a lot of companies that I would keep away from, my basic hypothesis is that there are many quality REITs getting overly punished right now and prudent investors can gobble them up for sizable discounts.

Thus far, I have examined seven REITs in detail:

With REITs getting hammered by the markets over the past couple of years, I have begun seeking out potential bargains in the sector. My basic hypothesis is that the market will overly punish a few quality REITs that may be had for huge discounts to their actual values. Thus far, I have examined Winthrop Realty Trust (FUR), Colonial Properties Trust (CLP), and Agree Realty Corporation (ADC). This is Part IV of my “Quest for Value REITs” series and I will focus on California-based Douglas Emmett, Inc. (DEI).

Business and Attractive Characteristics

As the market has soured on REITs, I have become intrigued by the prospect of finding quality REITs at huge discounts. Earlier this week, I examined Winthrop Realty Trust (FUR), a REIT that I felt might be a huge bargain for investors. I also took a look at Colonial Properties Trust (CLP), a REIT that does have some liquidity concerns, but that I believed might be significantly undervalued all the same.

This is Part III of my “Quest for Value REITs” series. This article focuses on yet another small cap REIT, Agree Realty Corporation (ADC).

“STELLLLLLAAAAAA! STELLLLLLAAAAAA!!!!” (Stanley Kowalski from “A Streetcar Named Desire”)

Sometimes I feel like Marlon Brando screaming out that line from the top of his lungs. Except, I’ve been screaming out “VALUE!”, as in the deep value available in the market right now. There may not be another buying opportunity like this for decades! One area where I still see a lot of negativity is in the REIT sphere. Certainly, a lot of REITs are levered to the tilt and look to be in bad shape, but there are other REITs that appear to be getting punished for the sins of their peers. One particular REIT I like right now is Winthrop Realty Trust (FUR).

Q4 2008 Earnings Call

March 5, 2009 2:00 pm ET

Why should you care about Ken Shubin Stein?

Dr. Shubin Stein is the founder of Spencer Capital, a deep value-oriented investment management firm. Previously he co-founded Compo Asset Management that later merged into Promethean Investment Group.

We continue our look at various money managers' portfolios with Bruce Berkowitz of the Fairholme Fund. Notable changes include the following:

Fairholme continues its thematic investing, opening or adding to bullish positions in defense and health insurers. New investments include Humana (HUM) and General Dynamics (GD), which complement existing stakes in Boeing (BA), Northrup Grumman (NOC), Spirit Aerosystems (SPR), Wellpoint (WLP) and Wellcare (WCG).

Last week's top stocks that were bought by their CEOs were TriCo Bancshares (TCBK), The Greenbrier Companies Inc (GBX), Winthrop Realty Trust (FUR), JMP Group Inc (JMP), and MBIA Inc (MBI).

TriCo Bancshares (TCBK): President and CEO, Director Richard P Smith Bought 21,000 Shares

President and CEO, Director of TriCo Bancshares (TCBK) Richard P Smith bought 21,000 shares during the past week at an average price of $21.66. TriCo Bancshares is a bank holding company for Tri Counties Bank. TriCo Bancshares has a market cap of $386.54 million; its shares were traded at around $21.66 with a P/E ratio of 22.6 and P/S ratio of 2.5. The dividend yield of TriCo Bancshares stocks is 2.12%. TriCo Bancshares had an annual average earning growth of 16.4% over the past 5 years.

Check out the following chart:

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The Trend line not only has been broken, it has been demolished to the downside.

Q3 2008 Earnings Call Transcript

November 6, 2008 2:00 pm ET

First up in the 3rd quarter edition of our 2008 hedge fund tracking series is T2 Partners. T2, as of the current filing, is a $132 million value fund run by Whitney Tilson. In addition to running his fund, Tilson is very active in the value investing community, releasing his Value Investor Insight newsletter and organizing the Value Investing Congress, which we covered a few weeks earlier. We also recently covered Tilson's latest thoughts on this volatile market here.

Tilson launched his investment career in 1999. Taken from his Tilson Funds website,

Q2 2008 Earnings Call

August 7, 2008 2:00 pm ET

Q1 2008 Earnings Call

May 8, 2008 2:00 pm ET

F4Q07 Earnings Call

March 12, 2008 2:00 pm ET

I bought a small starter position yesterday (900 shares at $5.10 per share) in Winthrop Realty Trust (FUR). The company specializes in a value-oriented opportunistic real estate strategy.

They are not just passive investors. They are active managers and can provide property management, asset management and construction management expertise in order for their investments to reach full potential. I think 2008 should provide good opportunities for FUR to take advantage of distressed real estate bargains.

There are a few candidates in recent months: