Past Time To Take Gains On These Big Yielders
High Yield REITs Whacked By Higher Rates
ACRE's heavy exposure to distressed asset classes like office, multifamily, and hotels, coupled with rising delinquencies, justifies a Sell rating. Despite management's optimistic outlook, ACRE's increasing credit loss reserves and poor loan performance signal ongoing struggles in the commercial lending market. Multifamily and office markets continue to face significant challenges, with high vacancy rates and oversupply leading to falling rents and asset underperformance.
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ACRE's stock has dropped by 25% since the initial bearish article. ACRE reduced its dividend from 33 cents to 25 cents in February 2024, but distributable earnings continue to come in well below this new level. Despite a slight improvement in Q3, ACRE's base earnings run-rate remains severely impaired.
Preferred shares rallied, as predicted. Finding value is getting much harder. There are some common shares trading at discounts. Some big, some tiny. I would be interested in a few of the agency mortgage REITs, but the ones I would prefer remain unavailable. The valuation between those good ones and some of the weaker ones (as measured by things like destruction of shareholder wealth and me not liking them) is still small sometimes.
Ares Commercial Real Estate failed to cover its dividend with distributable profits in 3Q24, reflecting high dividend adjustment risk and ongoing loan issues. The trust's portfolio has shrunk by 15% due to selling impaired loans, leading to a 72% YoY drop in distributable profits and negative net income. Ares Commercial Real Estate's stock trades at a 32% discount to book value, but the elevated dividend risk necessitates a rating change from 'Buy' to 'Hold.'.
Ares Commercial continues to face problems related to impaired loans in its office segment. The commercial mortgage REIT was forced to increase its CECL reserve in the third-quarter. ACRE realized losses of $0.10 per-share related to loan sales. Even when adjusting for such loan losses, the REIT did not support its dividend with distributable earnings.
U.S. equity markets soared to record highs this week after President-elect Trump scored a surprisingly decisive election victory, including a likely "trifecta" of Republican legislative control in Congress. The outcome sparked powerful moves across global financial markets as investors priced in a combination of domestic-focused and "pro-growth" economic policies but also reflected concern over deficits and immigration policy. Characteristic of the "Trump trade" dynamic, smaller-cap companies led the surge, outperforming mega-cap technology and international-heavy peers. The S&P Small-Cap 600 soared 9%, outpacing 5% gains from the S&P 500.
Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation (ACRE) Q3 2024 Earnings Call Transcript
Although the revenue and EPS for Ares Commercial Real Estate (ACRE) give a sense of how its business performed in the quarter ended September 2024, it might be worth considering how some key metrics compare with Wall Street estimates and the year-ago numbers.
Ares Commercial Real Estate (ACRE) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.07 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.11 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.25 per share a year ago.