Tickers: FR
Subsector: Industrial / Logistics
Headline: Moving FR to Long Bench from Short Bench
We are moving First Industrial Realty Trust (FR) to the Long Bench, as it is signaling higher highs on a massive volume spike yesterday, so the signal is definitely sniffing something out here.
For context, investors need to understand two things:
- FR has spent the last half-decade plus (1) cleaning up the portfolio from a quality and geographic standpoint and (2) cleaning up the balance sheet to sub-5x leverage, and has always been viewed as a likely eventual take-out candidate among the smaller Logistics REITs. As it stands today the company maintains ~50% portfolio exposure in bulk to the most important logistics markets in the country (PA/NY/NJ, Atlanta, Dallas, SoCal, etc). Amazon also represents ~6.1% of Annualized Net Rent, with a diverse list moving down including Home Depot, Lowe's United Natural Foods, Adesa, XPO, etc.
- Bringing Prologis (PLD) into the fold, the company has a history of flexing its cost of capital to acquire other publicly-traded Logistics REITs (DCT, LPT) and non-traded REITs to rapidly acquire high-quality scale "wholesale" in target markets, followed by a sell-down on a "retail" basis of non-core markets and assets to third parties and the company's own Strategic Capital platform. On our math there is at least a 50-60bp cost of capital advantage today in PLD's favor inclusive of G&A and capex, while at the same time FR's G&A and capex load accounts for about an -80bp drag on unlevered yield in the market vs. PLD's ~30bp. I.e, there is an opportunity for PLD to execute another stock-for-stock deal and earn back more than its cost of capital through (1) the arbitrage in the market, (2) the resale of non-core assets and (3) the elimination of FR's corporate layer or a majority of it. We are pretty sure PLD understands when best to flex its massive advantage, and would argue that now is one of those times.
This is not to say we are making a call on a deal, rather that with each passing day that PLD makes new highs and its cost of capital falls, the probability of FR coming off the board as a public entity also increases. Therefore, for now it really doesn't make any sense to have FR on the short bias side, but a ton of sense for investors to consider it as a long. The time to add PLD as a long again would be post-transaction and/or ahead of Quad 4. It is also possible that a private bucket of capital looking to gain or increase logistics exposure at scale could scoop up FR in a one-shot deal.
Separately, we are switching the order of IRM and WE on the long side with IRM making higher highs and lows, and WE likely to remain volatile near-term. We continue to expect at least a double in WE over a 12-18 month duration.
Figure 1: Updated Hedgeye REITs Position Monitor
Figure 2: Updated Hedgeye REITs Sentiment Monitor
Prior Notes:
12.15.21 - EVENT REPLAY | FIRESIDE CHAT W/ WEWORK CEO SANDEEP MATHRANI
12.14.21 - REITS DAILY BRIEF | 12.14.21 | (U.S. OFFICE UTILIZATION)
12.12.21 - SUNDAY NIGHT REIT READ | 12.12.21 | (WE)
12.11.21 - EVENT REMINDER | FIRESIDE CHAT W/ WEWORK CEO SANDEEP MATHRANI
12.10.21 - REITS DAILY BRIEF | 12.10.21 | (ESRT)
12.8.21 - REITS DAILY BRIEF | 12.8.21 | (APARTMENT RENT TRACKER, U.S. OFFICE UTILIZATION)
12.7.21 - REITS DAILY BRIEF | 12.7.21 | (SLG)
12.6.21 - REITS DAILY BRIEF | 12.6.21 | (WE NOVEMBER OPERATIONS UPDATE)
12.5.21 - SUNDAY NIGHT REIT READ | 12.5.21 | (PGRE, EGP, PLYM, MAA, CPT, O, EPR)
12.2.21 - REITS DAILY BRIEF | 12.2.21 | (WE)
12.1.21 - IGNORE CNBC RE: WEWORK RESTATEMENT | 12.1.21 | (WE)
12.1.21 - REITS DAILY BRIEF | 12.1.21 | (U.S. OFFICE UTILIZATION, WE)
11.30.21 - REITS DAILY BRIEF | 11.30.21 | (AMH)
11.28.21 - SUNDAY NIGHT REIT READ | 11.28.21 | (COLD)
11.23.21 - REITS DAILY BRIEF | 11.23.21 | (U.S. OFFICE UTILIZATION, WE)
11.21.21 - SUNDAY NIGHT REIT READ | 11.21.21 | (WE)
11.19.21 - REITS DAILY BRIEF | 11.19.21 | (CUBE)
11.17.21 - REITS DAILY BRIEF | 11.17.21 | (STYLE FACTOR WORK)
11.16.21 - REITS DAILY BRIEF | 11.16.21 | (U.S. OFFICE UTILIZATION)
11.15.21 - CUBE ANNOUNCES STABILIZED ACQUISITION | 11.15.21
11.15.21 - REITS DAILY BRIEF | 11.15.21 | (WE, ILPT)
11.14.21 - SUNDAY NIGHT REIT READ | 11.14.21 | (CUBE, EXR, LSI, NSA)
11.11.21 - REITS DAILY BRIEF | 11.11.21 | (LSI, NYC CBD OFFICE)
11.10.21 - REITS DAILY BRIEF | 11.10.21 | (UHAL, CONE, COR, NSA, PSA)
11.9.21 - REITS DAILY BRIEF | 11.9.21 | (U.S. OFFICE UTILIZATION, SFR)
11.7.21 - SUNDAY NIGHT REIT READ | 11.7.21 | (APARTMENT RENTAL RATE TRACKER, POSITION MONITOR UPDATE)
11.4.21 - REIT RECAP | 11.4.21 | AMH 3Q21 RESULTS
11.4.21 - REIT RECAP | 11.4.21 | CUBE 3Q21 RESULTS
11.4.21 - REITS DAILY BRIEF | 11.4.21 | (COLD, IRM, EARNINGS SURPRISE MONITOR)
11.3.21 - REITS DAILY BRIEF | 11.2.21 | (LSI, POSITION MONITOR UPDATE)
11.2.21 - REITS DAILY BRIEF | 11.2.21 | (PSA, U.S. OFFICE UTILIZATION)
11.1.21 - REIT RECAP | 11.1.21 | PSA 3Q21 RESULTS
10.31.21 - SUNDAY NIGHT REIT READ | 10.31.21 | (3Q21 EARNINGS SURPRISES, POSITION MONITOR)
10.28.21 - REIT RECAP | 10.28.21 | CPT 3Q21 RESULTS
10.28.21 - REITS DAILY BRIEF | 10.28.21 | (EXR)
10.28.21 - REIT RECAP | 10/28/21 | INVH 3Q21 RESULTS
10.28.21 - REIT RECAP | 10/27/21 | AVB 3Q21 RESULTS
10.27.21 - REITS DAILY BRIEF | 10.27.21 | (3Q21 Earnings, AVB, EXR, Office)
10.26.21 - REIT RECAP | 10/26/21 | EXR 3Q21 RESULTS
10.26.21 - REITS DAILY BRIEF | 10.26.21 | (EQR, REXR)
10.25.21 - SUNDAY NIGHT REIT READ | 10.24.21 | (POSITION MONITOR)
10.21.21. - REIT RECAP | 10/21/21 | REXR 3Q21 RESULTS
10.20.21 - REITS DAILY BRIEF | 10.20.21 | (EGP, PLYM, REXR, ILPT)
10.19.21 - VIDEO | American Homes 4 Rent (AMH) Thesis
10.19.21 - REITS DAILY BRIEF | 10.19.21 | (COLD, SLG, VNO, AMH, U.S. Office Utilization)
10.18.21 - REITS DAILY BRIEF | 10.18.21 | (PLD)
10.17.21 - SUNDAY NIGHT REIT READ | 10.17.21 | (PLD, POSITION MONITOR)
10.15.21 - REIT RECAP | 10/15/21 | PLD 3Q21 RESULTS
10.13.21 - REITS DAILY BRIEF | 10.13.21 | (PLD)
10.10.21 - SUNDAY NIGHT REIT READ | 10.10.21 | (POSITION MONITOR UPDATE)
10.8.21 - BLACK BOOK ROUND-UP | AMERCO (UHAL)
10.7.21 - BEST IDEA ROUND-UP | AMERICOLD REALTY TRUST (COLD)
Please e-mail with any questions.
Rob Simone, CFA
Managing Director
Twitter: @HedgeyeREITs
