CUZ Maintains Neutral Recommendation - Analyst Blog
November 25 2011 - 9:00AM
Zacks
We reiterate our "Neutral" rating
on Cousins Properties Inc. (CUZ), a Georgia-based
real estate investment trust (REIT) engaged in the acquisition,
financing, development, management, and leasing of office, retail
and industrial properties throughout the U.S.
Cousins Properties has a
diversified portfolio with a broad array of product types – office,
retail, urban residential and single-family communities that
mitigates operating risks associated with the economic down cycles.
In 2008, Cousins Properties reorganized its business according to
the functional lines and eliminated its division structure, which
was primarily based on product types.
Under its new structure, the
company has five reportable segments: Office, Retail, Land,
Third-Party Management and Multi-Family. The Office and Retail
segments comprise operations of consolidated and joint venture
office and retail properties, respectively. The Land segment
primarily includes operations for land held for future development.
The Third-Party Management segment includes projects where the
company manages, leases and develops properties for third parties.
The Multi-Family segment includes operations for the development
and sale of multi-family real estate.
The spread-out product portfolio
has ensured a relatively steady source of revenue generation for
Cousins Properties over the years. Furthermore, the portfolio is
primarily concentrated in high-growth Sun Belt markets, which due
to their long-term demographic trends, should exhibit above-average
growth in the coming quarters.
Cousins Properties is currently
shoring up its balance sheet and increasing its liquidity by
selling non-core assets. At the same time, the company remains
focused on leasing activities and intends to maintain steady
occupancy levels across its portfolio.
However, Cousins Properties has a
large development pipeline, which increases operational risks in
the current credit-constrained market, exposing it to rising
construction costs, entitlement delays and lease-up risk. Besides,
Cousins Properties generates a significant amount of revenue from
its office portfolio. With fears of a double-dip recession looming
large, operations in the company’s office portfolio is likely to
suffer as most companies shelve expansion plans and cut jobs. This
could adversely affect the top-line growth of the company.
The continued troubles in the
residential sector are also weighing on commercial property
operations. The credit crunch has widened the bid-ask spread
between buyers and sellers of commercial real estate, which in turn
has caused deal volumes to fall compared to pre-recession levels.
This has negatively affected the industrial properties segment of
Cousins Properties.
Cousins Properties presently has a
Zacks #3 Rank that translates into a short-term ‘Hold’ rating. We
also have a ‘Neutral’ rating and a Zacks #3 Rank for Duke
Realty Corp. (DRE), one of the competitors of Cousins
Properties.
COUSIN PROP INC (CUZ): Free Stock Analysis Report
DUKE REALTY CP (DRE): Free Stock Analysis Report
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