St. Joe To Form JV For Busy Bee Store In Panama City Beach

The St. Joe Company (NYSE:JOE) recently announced that it intends to form a joint venture (JV) with Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), Inc. to construct, own and manage a fuel station and convenience store under the latter’s Busy Bee trademark name in Panama City Beach, FL.

The station will be located at the corner of Nautilus Street and Panama City Beach Parkway (Highway 98). It is likely to include a convenience store spanning 13,000 square feet, 14 fuel pumps and a car wash. The project is expected to begin construction in mid-2019.

St. Joe will provide nearly 2.6 acres of land for the station while Johnson & Johnson will partly own the Nautilus Busy Bee and manage day-to-day operations of the JV and the station. Notably, Johnson & Johnson owns and operates the “Busy Bee” brand.

The company expects the Nautilus Busy Bee store to be the largest convenience store in the area. Further, it expects to add more Busy Bee stores at different location, expanding its presence in Northwest Florida.

In fact, the station will be strategically located in close proximity to Panama City Beach Sports Complex and the lifestyle and entertainment hubs of Pier Park and Pier Park North. This is expected to drive decent traffic at the store from traveling families as well as local residents.

The JV is in line with St. Joe’s strategy to expand its portfolio of income-producing properties and focus on recurring operating income opportunities, thereby creating long-term value for shareholders.

Notably, the company’s business is primarily concentrated in Florida, particularly in the Northwest region. Hence, any weakness in economic conditions, restrictive credit, the occurrence of hurricanes and increased cost of living might impact the rate of migration into the state, thereby affecting the company’s business.

Shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have lost 3.7%, narrower than its industry’s decline of 5.5%, over the past month.




Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks from the real estate space are Marcus & Millichap, Inc. (NYSE:MMI) , HFF Inc. (NYSE:HF) and Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated (NYSE:JLL) , carrying a Zacks Rank of 2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here

Marcus & Millichap earnings per share (EPS) estimates for 2018 has been revised marginally upward to $2.01 in 30 days’ time. Its shares have gained 11.6% over the past year.

HFF Inc.’s EPS estimates for 2018 has remained unchanged at $2.67 in 30 days’ time. Its shares have gained 8% over the past six months.

Jones Lang LaSalle’s Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2018 EPS has moved up 5.4% to $10.81 in the past month.

More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone!

It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market.

Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2020.

Click here for the 6 trades >>