Commercial real estate has been heavily impacted by COVID-19. But as a result there are some undervalued real estate investment trusts (REITs) that have undeservedly fallen in sympathy with the group.
Dennis Mitchell, CEO and Chief Investment Officer of Starlight Capital, has a REIT idea for you, along with an infrastructure stock he calls “fantastic”.
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Dennis’s infrastructure pick is Waste Connections (TSX:WCN;NYSE:WCN), which released its third quarter earnings report.
Here’s some bonus commentary from RBC Dominion Securities equity analyst Walter Spracklin:
- WCN’s Q3 results that came in ahead of expectations across virtually all metrics.
- In particular, we would highlight the better-than-expected volume declines of -5.7% year-over-year (Y/Y) (vs. our -7.5% Y/Y estimate and guidance of -7% to ‑7.5%); and adjusted EBITDA of $433 million (above our $420 million forecast) as the primary positive takeaways from the quarter.
- Adjusted free cash flow (FCF) was also notably strong at $284 million vs. our $200 million estimate, bringing YTD FCF to $778 million vs. original full year guidance of $805-835 million, while core pricing continued to pace at healthy levels and was largely consistent with our expectations.
- Topping it off was a nice double-digit increase (+10.8%) in the dividend, which was slightly above our expectations.
Bottom line – Overall, a strong quarter that once again demonstrated WCN’s impressive operational excellence.
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