Mack-Cali Realty Corporation CLI recently announced that it has signed a long-term lease with Plymouth Rock — a leading provider of personal and commercial automotive insurance — for 130,000 square feet of space at the company’s Class A office complex, 581 Main Street Woodbridge, NJ. This lease has enabled the company to achieve full occupancy.
Notably, the 12-year deal follows Mack-Cali's comprehensive capital-investment program at the property, aimed to upgrade amenities at the property. In fact, the property’s common spaces were refurbished with new entryway and lobby, full-service café, fitness center, conference room, and exterior landscaping. Further, technological features like electric vehicle-charging stations were integrated. Hence, the overhaul plan has likely driven occupancy at the property.
In addition, the eight-story Class A building is strategically located in one of the busiest business corridors in the area and is just 20 minutes away from the Newark Liberty International Airport. In fact, 581 Main Street provides easy access to the New Jersey Turnpike. Also, it is well connected to the Metropark and Woodbridge rail stations, as well as the NJ Transit bus service. Convenient transit access has likely favored demand for the property.
Per management, Plymouth Rock’s lease in Woodbridge “positions the company for continued growth”. In fact, Plymouth has significant presence throughout the Northeastern region of the nation.
Importantly, this deal reflects the effectiveness of Mack-Cali’s strategic plan aimed at focusing on waterfront and transit-based office holdings to increase leased percentage for its office portfolio. The company plans to execute this strategy by upgrading its present amenities and improve offerings with major capital-investment programs. Such moves will improve quality of cash flow, and enable the company to achieve better margins and strengthen its balance-sheet position.
This Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company has outperformed its industry in the past three months. Shares of Duke Realty have risen 14.3% compared with the industry’s gain of 6.1%.
Stocks Worth a Look
A few better-ranked stocks from the same space are Arbor Realty Trust ABR, Lamar Advertising Company LAMR and Prologis, Inc. PLD. While Arbor Realty sports a Zacks Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), the other two stocks carry a Zacks Rank of 2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Arbor Realty Trust’s Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2018 FFO per share remained unchanged at $1.03 in a month’s time. Its shares have returned 12.9% in a year's time.
Lamar’s FFO per share estimates for the current year have been revised 1.1% upward to $5.4 in a week’s time. Its shares have gained 2.3% in the past year.
Prologis’ FFO per share estimates for 2018 inched up 0.7% to $2.98 over the past month. Its shares have appreciated 16.8% over the past year.
Note: Anything related to earnings presented in this write-up represents funds from operations (FFO) — a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs.
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