Markets were somewhat mixed on Tuesday with the S&P 500 down 0.7% and Toronto up 0.2%.
There were’nt any particularly notable moves in the stocks I monitor.
Tomorrow morning Dollarama will report earnings.
I’m taking a look at RioCan now. I suspect it remains a Buy. They had to cut their distribution back at the start of 2021 They probably were quite wise to then be in no hurry to get it back up to the old level. They are at 9 cents and the old level was 12 cents. Now they have a low pay-out ratio of about 60%. And they have much more financial flexibility now.
The Melcor REIT continues to slip and closed at $4.58 today. The yield is now over 10%. The market likely fears a cut to the distribution. They have put their Saskatchewan retail investment properties up for sale. These are not prime properties and may be difficult to sell given higher interest rtes. If they can’t be sold they may decide to cut the distribution. That’s unfortunate. On the other hand the Alberta economy is strengthening. Oil prices are relatively high and the population has surged. Their retail properties in Alberta are mostly high quality but they certainty have some problematic office properties. I strongly suspect the Melcor REIT will be looking a lot better in a year or so. They will need to announce the September distribution in the next few days.
Canadian Tire just borrowed $400 million on a seven year bond at a rate of 5.372%. That’s a low rate in today’s environment and shows the financial strength of Canadian Tire.