DDR Ddr Corp.

DDR Corp. (DDR), a real estate investment trust (REIT), has recently announced its plans to host Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS), the largest U.S. based full-line sporting goods retailer, in two of its shopping centers in Utah. The strategic move is aimed at improving the overall quality of the company portfolio by revamping the merchandise mix and credit quality of cash flows at the shopping centers and replacing the underperforming stores with a category-leading retailer.

The shopping centers in which Dick’s Sporting will open its outlet include ‘The Family Center at Orem’ – a 282,000 square-foot prime shopping center; and ‘The Family Center at Fort Union’ – a 670,000 square-foot mall in Utah. The retailer will open a 54,000 square-foot store in ‘The Family Center at Orem’ and a 49,000 square-foot store in ‘The Family Center at Fort Union.’ Both the stores are expected to open in fall 2012.

With the present lease agreement, DDR has strengthened its long-term relationship with the sporting goods retailer. In the past two years, the company has completed six leases with Dick's Sporting spanning approximately 300,000 square feet of space in Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey and Utah. In addition, Dick's Sporting has consistently been a top-ten tenant of DDR in terms of average base rent and gross leasable area.

DDR has long been minimizing ground-up development spending in its domestic portfolio, and instead started allocating capital to the lease-up of existing projects. These redevelopments have created a growth opportunity for the company’s existing assets without the level of risk or capital required for new development.

This, in turn, has enabled DDR to de-lever the balance sheet and generate considerable cash flow for portfolio reinvestment as well as increase the cash distribution to its shareholders.

We maintain our Neutral recommendation on DDR for the long term. The company presently has a Zacks #3 Rank, which translates into a short-term Hold rating.

 
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