Saturday, February 5, 2011

The 25 Highest-Yielding REITs (AGNC, CIM, CYS, HTS, IVR, NLY)

The 25 Highest-Yielding REITs (AGNC, CIM, CYS, HTS, IVR, NLY)


The 25 Highest-Yielding REITs

Dividend investing is popular again. Investors have taken to heart Jeremy Siegel's studies, which show that higher-yielding stocks tend to offer greater returns over time than low- or no-yield stocks.
The highest dividend yields can be very tantalizing. As long as a stock yielding 15% doesn't lose value, you'll make 15% in one year! In more cases than not, however, an astronomical yield is a bad sign for a stock. Since dividend yields and stock prices move in opposite directions, a high yield usually means that investors have begun to worry about the business, and driven down its stock price.

Most real-estate companies are organized as real-estate investment trusts. They do this so that they can get around the double taxation issue that most investors face. REITs don't pay taxes as long as they distribute at least 90% of their income as dividends. The investor holding shares of the REIT then has to pay taxes on those dividends as though they are income. This differs from most dividends which are taxed at a lower rate.
Dividends are not guaranteed; you need to make sure that a business is generating enough cash to pay its dividend, or your investment could be disastrous.
Three months ago, I ran a screen for the highest-yielding real-estate stocks, and it got such a good reception that I'm doing it again this quarter. The limitations I've set this time are that I'm only considering REITs that must have a market cap greater than $300 million.
Here are the top 25 highest-yielding REITs the screen produced:
Company
Market Cap (millions)
Div. Yield
1
American Capital Agency (Nasdaq: AGNC)
$2,532
19.5%
2
Cypress Sharpridge Investments (NYSE: CYS)
$752
18.4%
3
Invesco Mortgage Capital (NYSE: IVR)
$1,089
17.3%
4
Chimera Investment (NYSE: CIM)
$4,234
16.2%
5
Two Harbors Investment (NYSE: TWO)
$407
15.9%
6
Annaly Capital Management (NYSE: NLY)
$12,599
14.4%
7
Hatteras Financial (NYSE: HTS)
$1,601
14.0%
8
Resource Capital (NYSE: RSO)
$405
13.9%
9
Anworth Mortgage Asset (NYSE: ANH)
$831
12.8%
10
Capstead Mortgage (NYSE: CMO)
$890
12.3%
11
MFA Financial (NYSE: MFA)
$2,318
11.4%
12
Walter Investment Management (NYSE: WAC)
$469
11.0%
13
Dynex Capital (NYSE: DX)
$314
10.1%
14
PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust (NYSE:PMT)
$309
9.2%
15
NorthStar Realty Finance (NYSE: NRF)
$394
7.8%
16
Sun Communities (NYSE: SUI)
$678
7.7%
17
Investors Real Estate Trust (Nasdaq: IRET)
$711
7.7%
18
CommonWealth REIT (NYSE: CWH)
$1,896
7.6%
19
Medical Properties Trust (NYSE: MPW)
$1,193
7.4%
20
Hospitality Properties Trust (NYSE: HPT)
$3,029
7.3%
21
Starwood Property Trust (NYSE: STWD)
$1,592
7.2%
22
Getty Realty (NYSE: GTY)
$914
6.9%
23
Omega Healthcare Investors (NYSE: OHI)
$2,173
6.7%
24
Universal Health Realty Income Trust (NYSE:UHT)
$451
6.7%
25
Cogdell Spencer (NYSE: CSA)
$305
6.7%
Source: Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's.
These stocks are a good place to start your research, but they're not formal recommendations. Remember, their seemingly irresistible yields could be ticking time bombs, so do your own due diligence. Also, make sure you diversify your picks across various sectors. As investors relearn every decade or so, you never want to put all your eggs in one basket -- no matter how tempting the dividends are.
For a basket of some high-yield some dividend opportunities, click here to get The Motley Fool's five-page free report: "13 High-Yielding Stocks to Buy Today."

When this "MoMo" market flies off the rails... Some will calmly cash in. Motley Fool Special Ops advisor, Tom Jacobs wants to make it as easy as possible for you. By providing you a FREE glimpse into his invitation-only, $1,999-a-year service. Simply enter your email and click. Tom will be in touch.

Dan Dzombak's musings and articles he finds interesting can be found on his Twitter:@DanDzombak. He does not own any of the stocks mentioned in this article.
The Fool owns shares of Annaly Capital Management. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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