A heavy cash balance, strong balance sheet and a "fill and flip" rental strategy make Equity Commonwealth EQC a "prototypical defensive stock," according to Stifel.
The Analyst
Stifel's John W. Guinee upgraded Equity Commonwealth from Hold to Buy and modestly raised the stock’s target price from $31 to $32.
The Thesis
EQC has a roughly $2.2-billion cash balance, with net cash comprising over 50 percent of the Chicago-based office REIT’s net asset value, Guinee said in a Thursday note. (See the analyst’s track record here.)
EQC’s "fill and flip" rental strategy of actively selling assets in a still-strong rental environment is a positive defensive catalyst for the stock, the analyst said.
Guinee described the REIT’s strategy as “actively leasing up vacancy at the prevailing market rent with a heavy dose of capex, and then selling the income stream.”
Price Action
At the time of publication, shares of Equity Commonwealth were trading up 2.18 percent at $29.58.
Related Links:
date | ticker | name | Price Target | Upside/Downside | Recommendation | Firm |
---|
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.