Kimco (KIM) Sells Canadian Portfolio For $324 Million

In sync with its strategy to exit from its Canadian operations, Kimco Realty Corporation (NYSE:KIM) announced the sale of its interests in a 17-property Canadian portfolio. The New Hyde Park, NY-based retail real estate investment trust (“REIT”) sold this property, covering an area of 1.8 million square feet, to the Vancouver, Canada-based real estate development and investment company Anthem Properties Group Ltd. for CAD $413.2 million (USD $324 million).

Growth Strategy

Notably, per the 2020 Vision, the company aims at owning high-quality portfolio in major, metro markets in the U.S and at the same time plans to gradually wind off its operations in Mexico, Latin America and Canada. In fact, since Dec 31, 2015, the REIT sold 26 properties in Canada, which accounted for 85% of the net operating income of the company in the country. Further, in addition to the latest sale, Kimco also sold its interests in two shopping centers in Canada for CAD $99.3 million during second-quarter 2016. These sales are in sync with the strategy of the company to completely exit from the Canadian market by the end of 2016.

Kimco along with its subsidiaries is one of the major owners and operators of neighborhood and community shopping centers in the U.S. The company reported first-quarter 2016 adjusted funds from operations (“FFO”) per share of 37 cents, in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate and a penny higher than the prior-year quarter.

KIMCO REALTY CO Price

Zacks Rank & Other Stocks to Consider

The stock presently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

However, investors interested in the REIT sector can consider stocks like Retail Opportunity Investments Corp. (NASDAQ:ROIC) , Saul Centers Inc. (NYSE:BFS) and Urban Edge Properties (NYSE:UE) . Each of these stocks carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Note: FFO, a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs, is obtained after adding depreciation and amortization and other non-cash expenses to net income.