Is all of real estate as bad as it’s being made out to be? Well, for the most part, yes. But there’s one real estate investment trust that has consistently put up the numbers and continues to do so even as the rest of the market wanes. It’s Federal Realty Investment Trust – the only REIT Cramer has ever recommended.
Federal Realty , which acts as a sort of shopping center landlord, owes its success to its locations, CEO Donald Wood told Cramer on Wednesday’s show. The company’s business model is based on hand-picking shopping centers for its portfolio in affluent and high-density areas of the country. The majority of its properties are on the Northeast corridor, from Boston to Washington D.C., and in Northern and Southern California. “Those are the markets that hold up best in both good and bad times,” Wood said.
That business plan has held up well, as 96% of Federal Realty’s space is leased, according to Wood. And because almost all tenants pay a fixed rent to the company, it doesn’t affect Federal Realty’s bottom line when weaker consumers or a faltering economy hurt store sales.
The fact that this stock is able to pay out a consistent dividend and sustain growth as the rest of the real estate complex barely hangs on should say it all, Cramer said. He reiterated that Federal Realty is a buy – and the only REIT worth owning right now.
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