Yahoo Finance How To Look At Kimco Realty Corporation (NYSE:KIM)
Kimco Realty Corporation is a US$7.7b mid-cap, real estate investment trust (REIT) based in New Hyde Park, United States. REITs own and operate income-generating property and adhere to a different set of regulations. This impacts how KIM’s business operates and also how we should analyse its stock. Below, I'll look at a few important metrics to keep in mind as part of your research on KIM.
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REIT investors should be familiar with the term Fund from Operations (FFO) – a REIT’s main source of cash flow from its day-to-day business activities. FFO is a higher quality measure of earnings because it takes out the impact of non-recurring sales and non-cash items such as depreciation. These items can distort the bottom line and not necessarily reflective of KIM’s daily operations. For KIM, its FFO of US$638m makes up 76% of its gross profit, which means the majority of its earnings are high-quality and recurring.
KIM's financial stability can be gauged by seeing how much its FFO generated each year can cover its total amount of debt. The higher the coverage, the less risky KIM is, broadly speaking, to have debt on its books. The metric I'll be using, FFO-to-debt, also estimates the time it will take for the company to repay its debt with its FFO. With a ratio of 13%, the credit rating agency Standard & Poor would consider this as significantly high risk. This would take KIM 7.64 years to pay off using just operating income, which is a long time, and risk increases with time. But realistically, companies have many levers to pull in order to pay back their debt, beyond operating income alone.
Next, interest coverage ratio shows how many times KIM’s earnings can cover its annual interest payments. Usually the ratio is calculated using EBIT, but for REITs, it’s better to use FFO divided by net interest. This is similar to the above concept, but looks at the nearer-term obligations. With an interest coverage ratio of 3.48x, it’s safe to say KIM is generating an appropriate amount of cash from its borrowings.
I also use FFO to look at KIM's valuation relative to other REITs in United States by using the price-to-FFO metric. This is conceptually the same as the price-to-earnings (PE) ratio, but as previously mentioned, FFO is more suitable. KIM's price-to-FFO is 12.24x, compared to the long-term industry average of 16.5x, meaning that it is undervalued.
Next Steps:
Kimco Realty can bring diversification into your portfolio due to its unique REIT characteristics. Before you make a decision on the stock today, keep in mind I've only covered one metric in this article, the FFO, which is by no means comprehensive. I'd strongly recommend continuing your research on the following areas I believe are key fundamentals for KIM:
Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for KIM’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for KIM’s outlook.
Valuation: What is KIM worth today? Is the stock undervalued, even when its growth outlook is factored into its intrinsic value? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether KIM is currently mispriced by the market.
Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here.
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If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
