Peter Barnes
Disclosure: I am in full compliance with all ethics and other policies for Market Realist research analysts. I am not invested in securities that I cover on Market Realist.
More From Peter Barnes

Boston Properties among REITs: Kind of a Big Deal
Boston Properties is a Boston-based REIT that completed its initial public offering in 1997 and is now the largest publicly traded office REIT in the US.

Financials Overview for the Week of June 26–30, 2017
Major banking stocks rose after the Fed approved huge payout plans. Wells Fargo (WFC) rose 2.7% and Citigroup (C) rose 2.8%.

A Look at Alexandria’s Geographic Coverage
Alexandria’s geographic coverage spans markets such as Greater Boston, San Francisco, New York City, San Diego, Seattle, and Maryland.

BioMed Realty Is Trading at a Discount Compared to Peers—For Now
A close look at BioMed Realty’s TTM price-to-FFO ratio shows that the company is in line with its historical valuation. Its current ratio is ~16.3x.

Why Are Lennar’s Higher Margins Unsustainable?
Buyers are reluctant to pay higher prices, and builders have to offer incentives, which reduces margins. Lennar’s higher margins will not be sustainable.

Douglas Emmett’s Leverage: A Tale of Dependence, or of Improvement?
At the end of fiscal 2014, Douglas Emmett’s consolidated debt was $3.4 billion, up by 6% over 2013. Since 2015, its total debt has seen moderate declines.

What’s Funding BioMed Realty’s Acquisitions?
At the end of 2014, BioMed Realty’s consolidated debt was $2.7 billion. Its total debt rose from $1.5 billion in 2010 to $3 billion as of September 2015.

What Does D.R. Horton’s EBITDA Margin Say?
D.R. Horton’s EBITDA margin was at 10.1% as on March 2015, much better compared to 2.3% for fiscal 2011.

Investing in Columbia Property Trust through ETFs
CXP is a mid-sized stock on the NYSE, with a market capitalization of $3 billion. Consequently, it sees allocation in some REIT-specific ETFs.

Why you should invest in homebuilder ETFs like XHB and ITB
ETFs present another investment avenue. Apart from pure homebuilder ETFs, there are many other ETFs that offer exposure to homebuilders.

Simon Property Group’s Key Business Segments
Simon Property is the only REIT in the S&P 100 Index and has heavy asset concentration on the US east coast and in the central US.

How Zoning Regulations Impact City Development
Zoning is the way that governments supervise land development and the kinds of uses each individual property may be directed toward for the public interest.

New Kid in Town: Introducing TETF
Although the ETF industry posted stellar growth, no one thought of issuing an ETF dedicated to ETF providers. The gap was filled by TETF in April 2017.

Investing in Lennar through Homebuilder ETFs
Lennar sees allocation in major sector-specific homebuilder ETFs such as the SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB). XHB has a 3.36% stake in Lennar.

How to Invest in General Growth Properties through ETFs
General Growth Properties has a market cap of $22.1 billion, is part of S&P 500 index, and sees allocation in the major REIT-specific ETFs like ICF.

Investing in American Campus Communities through ETFs
ETFs are a convenient, easy way to diversify your portfolio. In this article, we’ll look at how sector-specific and sector-agnostic ETFs invest in American Campus Communities (ACC) stock.

Residential Sector: What Investors Should Know
The residential REIT sector mainly includes apartments and manufactured housing. It’s one of the largest segments in the REIT industry.

How to Invest in D.R. Horton through ETFs
D.R. Horton sees allocation in major homebuilding sector-specific ETFs like the iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction Index Fund (ITB).

Shopping Center REITs Are Sensitive to Economic Cycles
Shopping center REITs mainly own and operate shopping centers that are smaller than retail malls. They’re mainly driven by higher consumer spending.

Assessing Macerich’s Robust Revenue Growth in Fiscal 2014
Macerich reported a consolidated revenue of $1.1 billion in 2014—a figure up by 7.4% over 2013. In 2013, its revenue growth was a whopping 29.1% over 2012.

AIG Posted a Huge Loss in 4Q17
AIG (AIG) reported a net loss of $6.66 billion in 4Q17—compared to a loss of $3 billion in 4Q16.

Alexandria: Flying High with Higher Occupancy Levels
Occupancy rate is the number of units that are rented out to residents by a company in proportion to the total number of units in the building or community.

Fintech Startups Grabbed a Larger Share of US Personal Loans
The total spending on Visa’s (V) network rose 11% to $2.1 trillion in the second quarter—slightly better than analysts’ estimates of $2.09 trillion.

US Investment Banks Earned Record Fees in 2017
The five largest US investment banks garnered more than $15.2 billion in fees from debt capital market activities in 2017.

SPY Witnessed Huge Outflows
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) was responsible for all of the outflows from US equity. SPY experienced net redemptions of $12.7 billion.

Why Investors Should Monitor Geopolitical Risks
Localized geopolitical risks like the tension in the Middle East are unlikely to cause substantial damage to the markets in the long run, though they could bolster oil prices in the short term.

How Monetary Tightening Could Affect the Stock Markets
The ultra-loose monetary policies that have been in vogue for many years have helped jack up prices of all the asset classes.

SPY’s Assets Crossed $300 Billion
SPY, the world’s largest ETF, continued to receive huge inflows. After adding $7.8 billion the previous week, it added another $6.2 billion last week.

ETF Inflows Hit Record Highs in 2017
With the addition of $475 billion, ETF inflows have broken all of the records in 2017. The previous record was $287.5 billion in 2016.

Is IBM Ready to Take Off?
International Business Machines (IBM), a leading enterprise solutions provider, has seen its revenue decline consistently for the past 22 quarters.

Equities Garnered a Huge Chunk of the Total ETF Inflows
FactSet data show that $16.2 billion worth of inflows were added in the ETF last week, which takes the YTD (year-to-date) total to $384.3 billion.

ETF Inflows Set a New Annual Record
As the broader stock indexes continued to make new highs, ETFs also continued to witness record inflows.

What Just Happened to Investment Bank Rankings?
During a press conference last week, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen criticized Wells Fargo (WFC) for its fake account scam.

Taking On Exposure to Innovative Biotechnology Stocks
The iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology ETF (IBB) offers investors targeted exposure to biotechnology and pharmaceutical stocks listed on the NASDAQ.

Benefitting from IBB’s Lower Expense Ratio
The iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology ETF (IBB) is an open-end fund with assets under management of $9.85 billion.

Why SMH Has One of the Lowest Expense Ratios
The VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF (SMH) is an open-ended fund with assets under management of $774.0 million.

A Peek at the VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF
The VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF (SMH) is an ETF that aims to replicate the price and yield performance (before fund fees and expenses) of the MVIS US Listed Semiconductor 25 Index.

Behind HACK’s Investment Strategy
HACK follows a replication strategy, which is an indexing strategy that involves investing in securities in the same proportions as the index.

ETFs Are Expected to Post Strong Growth
The total size of the US ETF (VOO) (IWD) industry rose 32% in 2016 to $2.8 trillion due to continued improvement in markets during the period.

Why ETFs Are Seeing Increased Popularity
Mutual fund ownership of equities is at the lowest level in ~13 years, while ETFs (SPY) (IVV) are gradually increasing their share in the stock market.

Jury Hasn’t Decided on ETFs’ Role in Stock Market Rise
Although ETF (VTV) ownership increased substantially during the last 20 years, it still isn’t high enough to meaningfully impact stock prices.

Rethink Your Emerging Market Story
In the previous articles of this series, we discussed population and economic growth as the two major drivers leading to a rise in emerging markets (EMQQ).

Emerging Market Economic Growth Outpaced Developed Markets
In recent years, emerging markets have experienced rapid economic growth compared to developed markets.

Why Emerging Markets Have Better Demographics
Achieving higher returns amid the rising market volatility, record-low interest rates, and global uncertainties is a huge challenge for investors.

Shareholder Buyback: A Powerful Tool to Achieve Higher Income
What products single out specifically the share buyback companies?

Buyback Achievers Strategy Significantly Outperforms Benchmark
Historically, we have seen Buyback does perform very well across all interest rate environments. Looking at the data back to the mid-80s, it does well.

How Dividend Achievers Generate High-Quality Income Growth
Let’s dive a little bit into the Alphadex® and Dividend Achievers products.

How Do You Define ‘Smart Beta’?
What is your definition of smart beta? I think there is some variation in this definition depending on who you ask.

Nasdaq Commodity Index: Reflecting the Global Commodity Market
On the commodities side, we have broad-based commodity benchmark, the Nasdaq Commodity Index, aptly named.

The AlphaDEX® Methodology: The Quintessential Smart Beta Product
So let’s move on to the AlphaDEX suite of products. Walk us through the construction of these products.

Young People, Middle Class Contributing to E-Commerce Growth
Emerging market economies (EEM) have followed diverse trends that are likely to drive global growth in the coming decades.

Why Term Life Is Most Beneficial to Young Adults
Term life (IYF) is most beneficial to young adults who are relatively free from any financial responsibilities.

How to Pick a Life Insurance Policy
Term life insurance provides guaranteed benefits to beneficiaries for a specific period of time in case of the sudden death of the insured person.

What Are the Different Types of Life Insurance Policies?
Life insurance (PRU) (MET) policies come in various forms that cater to people in different age groups and with different financial goals.

Why Warren Buffett Strongly Believes in the American Dream
Buffett said that it has been a terrible mistake to bet against America, not only for the past 240 years but even now. He believes that America’s emphasis on innovation and strength in commerce will continue to provide strong gains for its people.

Why Buffett Thinks Risk Management Should Be a Disciplined Affair
Berkshire Hathaway has reported an underwriting profit for 13 straight years, showing a pre-tax gain of $26.2 billion for the period. Buffett states that this was due to Berkshire’s insurance manager’s daily focus on disciplined risk evaluation.

How Berkshire’s Low-Cost Business Model Creates an Enduring Moat
Warren Buffett’s 2015 letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders is a mix of data, insight, and humor. Buffett aimed to dispel many allegations and misconceptions that have been lingering for quite some time.

Equity Residential’s Management Paints a Bullish Picture for 2016
Equity Residential upwardly revised its guidance for its 2016 same-store operating performance, normalized FFO per share, and some of its transactions.

General Growth Properties: Less Borrowing Bodes Well
To lower its effective borrowing costs and extend its maturity profile, GGP was active in unsecured and secured credit markets in fiscal 2015.

Simon’s Valuation Is Unlikely to Expand Further
Among the 25 analysts following Simon Property stock, 20 have assigned a “buy” rating. The company received no “sell” ratings from any analysts while five brokerages have assigned a “hold” rating.

EQR Sees a Marginal Fall in Borrowing Costs in 4Q15
In 2015, EQR was active in both the unsecured and secured credit markets to lower its effective borrowing costs and extend its maturity profile.

How Zoning Can Be a Hindrance to Housing Market Growth
Zoning restricts the freedom of property holders and REITs to use land however they want, given their specific development and investment interests.

General Growth Properties’ Revenue Fell in 4Q15
Minimum rent contributed to 60.1% of General Growth Properties’ total revenue in 4Q15.

How Zoning Regulations Benefit Communities
Zoning protects existing property values by preventing incompatible uses of a property. It also protects residential properties from commercial development.

A Look at the Role of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was established to protect consumers’ interests by implementing federal consumer financial laws.

Simon’s 4Q15 Earnings: Borrowing Cost Should Remain at Same Level
The total debt of Simon Property Group (SPG) increased from $20.8 billion as of the end of 4Q14 to $22.5 billion as of the end of 4Q15.

SPG’s 4Q15 Operating Metrics: Occupancy under Pressure
Simon Property Group (SPG) had 179 properties under US malls and premium outlets as of the end of 4Q15 compared to 177 as of the end of 4Q14.

How Much Money Are You Spending on Rent?
Rent is rising fast while pay raises have been very modest, which is a very difficult situation for median-income households.

What Can the Government Do to Increase Housing Affordability?
Many local governments have initiated measures to increase housing affordability. The California Community Redevelopment Law requires developers of redevelopment projects to construct 15% of the houses to be affordable for low- and moderate-income households.

Why Rent Is Going through the Roof
As more and more people seek apartments, rent has also been rising rapidly. In fact, rent has been rising faster than the overall cost of living in the US.

Properties for Sale: What Are They Like?
The National Association of Realtors’ data showed that, on average, properties stayed on the market for 58 days before they were sold to buyers.

Median Existing Home Prices Are Rising Higher and Higher
With a rise of 7.6% YoY (year-over-year) to $224,000, December 2015 was the 46th consecutive month of YoY increases in median home prices.

Existing Home Sales: Northeast and Midwest Led the Charge
All four major regions of the country witnessed substantial increases in home sales in December 2015. The charge was led by the Northeast and Midwest.

What Are the Factors Driving Housing Affordability?
Housing affordability took a beating in July 2015 after reaching its high in January 2013. The higher ratio of the home affordability index signifies relatively higher home affordability to buyers.

Analyzing BioMed Realty’s Higher FFO Payout Ratio
Bolstered by higher FFO per share, BioMed Realty increased its dividend by 36.5% to $1.31 per common share in 2014—its highest dividend in seven years.

Simon Property’s EBITDA Margin Likely to Improve in 4Q15
Wall Street analysts expect Simon Property’s EBITDA to be $1.1 billion in 4Q15 compared to $967.4 million in 4Q14. That would be a growth of 15.4%.

Higher Demand Likely to Drive BioMed Realty’s Occupancy in 2016
The improving economy, favorable business fundamentals, and a focus on life science companies have led to strong demand for BioMed Realty’s properties.

So Why Is Blackstone Acquiring BioMed Realty?
In October 2015, Blackstone agreed to acquire all BioMed Realty’s outstanding shares of common stock for $23.75 per share—an $8 billion transaction.

BioMed Realty’s Other Strategy: Generating Sustainable Growth
BioMed Realty’s growth strategy aims to meet demands for specialized office and laboratory space by leveraging its local knowledge and management expertise.

Home Prices are Rising, but Not Home Sales—Why?
A home is usually the most expensive asset that consumers can hold, and owning a home is among their lifetime goals. The question arises—why can’t more people own a house despite the availability of so many properties in the market?

Interpreting BioMed Realty’s EV-to-EBITDA Multiple
A close look at BioMed Realty Trust’s EV-to-EBITDA multiple shows that its ratio is in line with its historical valuation, with a current ratio of ~14.8x.

What is CXP’s Strategy to Enhance Its Competitive Position?
Columbia Property Trust’s strategy is to invest in a property portfolio that provides the size, quality, and market needed to deliver long-term returns.

An Introduction to Columbia Property Trust
Columbia Property Trust is a mid-sized office REIT company in the United States with a market capitalization of $3 billion.

BioMed Realty’s Property Acquisitions Have Been Enhancing Its Portfolio Quality
Many companies are looking to acquire properties in BioMed Realty’s core markets, thus enhancing competition for strategic properties.

BioMed Realty’s Quality Tenant Base and Triple Net Leases Ensure Steady Cash Flows
BioMed Realty’s tenant base has the top names in biotechnology companies, scientific research institutions, governments, and other life science firms.

BioMed Realty’s Strategy: Adding Value through Property Development and Redevelopment
BioMed Realty focuses on value creation through development and redevelopment of old and new properties, aiming to develop space on all land it acquires.

An Overview of BioMed Realty’s Specialized Property Portfolio
BioMed Realty’s total property portfolio witnessed increased from 12.2 million square feet in 2010 to 17.5 million square feet in 2014.

An Investor’s Introduction to BioMed Realty Trust
BioMed Realty is now the fifth-largest publicly traded office REIT in the United States and is a part of the S&P 400 Index.

Alexandria: Earnings Margin to Remain at an Elevated Level
Alexandria (ARE) recorded an EBITDA margin of 62.5% in 2014, the lowest earnings margin recorded by the company in the last five years.

Alexandria’s Strategy to Generate Sustainable Growth
Alexandria’s strategy is to acquire, develop, and redevelop properties in target cluster markets.

Property Acquisitions May Boost Alexandria’s Operating Income
Alexandria seeks property acquisition opportunities with in-place cash flows and the possibility of near-term lease-up.

Alexandria: Diversified Tenant Base and Lease Expirations
Alexandria Real Estate Equities (ARE) has a diversified tenant base, which reduces the company’s dependence on any particular industry.

Highwoods Properties’ Moderate Revenue Growth in Recent Years
In comparison to its peer group, Highwoods Properties posted a moderate revenue growth.

An Overview of Alexandria’s Property Portfolio
Alexandria Real Estate Equities’ total property portfolio has witnessed healthy growth during the past five years.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities: What Does It Do?
Alexandria Real Estate Equities (ARE) is a fully integrated, self-administered, and self-managed REIT.

Highwoods Properties Acquires Trophy Assets in Recent Years
Highwoods Properties (HIW) acquires properties in the best business districts to strengthen its competitive position in the market.

Highwoods Properties’ Diversified Tenant Base
Highwoods Properties’ top five tenants occupy an area of 3 million square feet or 11% of the company’s total rentable area.

Highwoods Properties: What Does It Do?
Highwoods Properties (HIW) is a fully integrated, self-administered, and self-managed REIT.

Why Douglas Emmett Is Snatching up Properties in Supply-Constrained Markets
Douglas Emmett acquires properties in supply-constrained markets with high entry barriers. This provides a competitive advantage and holds off competition.

Kilroy Realty: Standing Tall with Highest Earnings Margin
Kilroy Realty’s earnings margin is much higher than the industry average of 52.3% and those recorded by its peers.