W. P. Carey & Co. LLC featured company in Wall Street Transcript
2010-02-08 10:49:14
Gordon F. DuGan, President and Chief Executive Officer of W. P. Carey & Co. LLC (WPC), and CEO of its series of Corporate Property Associates (CPA) non-traded REIT funds, talked to the Wall Street Transcript about his company W. P. Carey & Co. LLC. Click here to read the complete interview.TWST: Please give our readers a brief history and overview of the company.Mr. DuGan: W.P. Carey (WPC) is an interesting company in that we have been in existence for a long time. We were founded in 1973; we have a terrific 30-year track record, and we manage approaching $10 billion in assets - and not many people have heard of us. I attribute this to two things. One, we have kept a low profile and just gone about our business, and two, we've done a very good job for our investors of providing predictable income and managing their investments through various cycles. Generally it's either the more spectacular winners in a good market and the more spectacular failures in a bad market that get all the press. We've been somewhere in between, just cranking through and providing steady, attractive returns for investors.
Featured Interview - Mid Penn Bancorp, Inc (MPB)
2009-10-12 10:37:21
Our featured Interview this week is Mid Penn Bancorp, Inc (MPB)The complete interview with Rory G. Ritrievi President and CEO, is now available.
Mid Penn Bancorp, Inc., is the parent company of Mid Penn Bank. Mid Penn Bank is a local, community bank with a strong, stable earnings history which continues to provide solid performance and growth. Large bank mergers continue to disrupt the Capital Region of Pennsylvania, giving small, well-run community banks such as Mid Penn Bank, the opportunity to provide services to a number of dissatisfied retail and business customers.
Bullish and Bearish Takes on Regional Banks
2009-10-09 00:14:19
As part of our Banking Report we conducted a Roundtable Forum with Anthony Polini,Senior Vice President, Financial Services, Raymond James & Associates and Christopher Nolan, Vice President Equity Research, Maxim Group who had some differing views ;Mr. Polini: Like I said before, I've never been more bullish. I've been following the banks since 1985 and in many ways banks are all in the same boat. I think some boats are going to rise a little more over the next three to six months. But we're still looking at the big macro picture. I'm very eager to find out what happened to consumer delinquencies this quarter to see a follow through, if you will, on early signs of positive news on the consumer credit front. The commercial loan losses and NPAs are probably at least six months away from peaking. So we still have a difficult environment. Like I tell people, you can make money walking around in Beverly Hills buying bank stocks and over the next year I think you're going to make a lot of money, but you're not walking in Beverly Hills, you're walking in my old hometown, Flushing.Mr. Nolan: My only "buy"-rated stock is SVB Financial (SIVB), with a price target $44. It's a bank focusing on the technology inventory capital sector and has very little commercial real estate exposure. The company is basically trading at about 1.5 tangible book. The stock has increased by 40% or so since reporting second-quarter earnings. I tend to think that because the stock is not really tied too much to commercial real estate, has a very strong liquidity position, I think credit quality is stabilizing and earnings are positioned to go to outperform peers. That's my only "buy" rating, but I'm favorably disposed to two "hold"-rated stocks. The first is Signature Bank (SBNY), which is a New York-based bank using a private banker model, targeting small and mid-size companies in the New York metropolitan area. It has been an extremely successful core deposit growth story, and it has limited commercial real estate exposure, which really dates back to 2008. So it doesn't really have too much legacy
Negative on REITs
2009-08-06 09:15:48
As part of our REITs report we spoke with Merrie S. Frankel Senior Credit Officer & Vice President Real Estate Finance at Moody's Investors Service and she gave us her view on the REITs Industry. She predicts most US REIT rating actions to be negative in the coming year, she has a stable outlook for retail, office, multifamily and health care REITs but a negative outlook on lodging:"Now the least stable is clearly lodging - on that we have a negative outlook and negative fundamentals on the business. Every company is cutting back on business travel, mine included, and cutting back on expenses. People are doing "staycations" now, so lodging is the least stable."Companies mentioned include: Kimco Realty Corporation (KIM), Simon Property Group Inc. (SPG), Federal Realty Investment Trust (FRT), Realty Income Corp. (O), Prologis (PLD), AMB Property Corp. (AMB), First Industrial Realty Trust Inc. (FR) and General Growth Properties Inc. (GGP). Follow us on TWITTER for exclusive content.
Mall REITs and Strip Center REITs Outlook
2009-07-31 08:12:21
Our REITs report includes an interview with David Wigginton of Macquarie Capital (USA), Inc. he gave us his take on the sector:"REITs sometimes get unfairly grouped with the overall commercial real estate industry. While they are commercial real estate owners and operators, unlike a lot of the smaller, private operators, they are much better capitalized, they have greater access to capital and typically own the better properties in the markets in which they operate. I'm speaking from a retail perspective only here. I think you can say there are signs of life, but they are faint. When looking at property fundamentals, vacancy rates are increasing and rental rate growth is declining. In addition, you're facing macro headwinds in the form of high unemployment rates, declining consumer spending, negative consumer sentiment and stagnating wages in general. The federal stimulus package helped prop things up a little bit, but it's still hard to get a clear read on what the run rate will be going forward."Mr. Wigginston breaks his coverage into two areas mall REITs and strip center REITs and has some top picks for each section but you will have to read that on our TWITTER