Industries: real estate, REIT
UDR is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that develops, owns, and operates multifamily apartment communities throughout the U.S.
| Most recent | Growth rate (CAGR) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 5 years | 10 years | ||
| Book value of equity per share | $9.49 | -9.2% | -3.1% | -1.1% |
| BV including aggregate dividends | 3.1% | 6.5% | 6.6% | |
| Most recent | Median | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 5 years | 10 years | ||
| ROE | 6.9% | 6.4% | 7.3% | 5.1% |
| ROA | 2.5% | 2.4% | 2.9% | 1.9% |
| Most recent | Growth rate (CAGR) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 5 years | 10 years | ||
| EPS | $0.70 | -34% | — | -19.5% |
| Annual dividends | $1.28 | 6% | 6.9% | -0.3% |
| Share price | $44.89 |
| Most recent | Median | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 5 years | 10 years | ||
| P/B ratio | 4.73 | 3.6 | 3.3 | 2.7 |
| P/E ratio | 64.13 | 55.9 | 42.4 | 41.1 |
A company creates wealth for its long-term shareholders in 2 main ways - through dividend payments and through the accumulation of retained earnings. This graph shows the accumulation of per-share equity of long-term shareholders (green bars), which consists of the retained earnings plus all capital invested in the company, and the cumulative dividends the company has paid over time per share of its stock (blue bars).
In the words of Warren Buffett: "We're looking for... businesses earning good returns on equity while employing little or no debt."
Return on equity is a key metric of financial performance, indicating a company's ability to generate earnings using shareholder capital. Over time, ROE is one of the major determinants of the rate at which a company creates shareholder wealth. The average ROE for large U.S. companies is 12%, and many investors use it as a threshold for attractive investments.
Companies can boost ROE by increasing leverage, which reduces the safety of the investment. Therefore, it is useful to look at the return on assets (ROA), which measures a company's earning power regardless of its capital structure. A widening gap between ROE and ROA may be a warning sign that should be thoroughly investigated.
Earnings per share is a popular metric used to value a company (using P/E ratio); growth in EPS is often used to judge company growth potential. However, many investors believe that EPS is an inferior metric to ROE, because it ignores the amount of capital the company used to generate earnings.
Free cash flow shows how much cash a company generates from operations, above and beyond what is required to maintain or expand its productive assets. This cash can be returned to investors, or spent by management on growing the company or paying back its debts.
Balance sheets of many companies contain intangible assets such as goodwill, trademarks, patents, etc. Many investors consider intangibles more difficult to value than physical assets. If intangible assets had been valued incorrectly, they must be impaired, resulting in a loss charged against shareholder equity. This chart demonstrates the potential loss to shareholder equity from such impairments.
Companies often use debt financing to increase their return on equity. However, as the amount of debt financing increases relative to the amount of equity financing, the company becomes more sensitive to down turns and other negative events. As a result, many investors use the ratio of debt to equity as a measure of a company's financial risk, and avoid companies that have this ratio above 1.
This chart shows shareholder equity as a percentage of total assets, allowing investors to judge the overall leverage. Companies with a higher proportion of equity can be viewed as safer investments. This metric is particularly important for highly leveraged institutions, such as banks, where it must be at least 4% according to government regulations.
This chart shows the cumulative dilution of investor ownership in a company over time. Dilution reduces an investor's participation in the future earnings. Dilution increases when a company issues new shares, and decreases when a company buys its shares back. Many investors avoid companies with large chronic dilution.
DuPont
analysis provides insight into factors affecting the Return On Equity of a company.
The DuPont equation decomposes ROE as follows:
ROE = (Net margin) * (Asset turnover) * (Asset to equity ratio)
Net margin indicates operating efficiency, Asset turnover measures
the total asset use efficiency, and the Asset to equity ratio is a measure of financial leverage.
The dividend payout ratio tells investors what percentage of earnings a company returns to shareholders, and what percentage it retains and reinvests. This ratio represents a major capital allocation decision by the company, and can be used to judge management rationality. Rational management should pay out all earnings that cannot be productively reinvested. Therefore, a low dividend payout ratio for a profitable company with a low growth potential may be a warning sign.
Many investors use the P/B ratio as a quick way of judging company valuation. Value investors - followers of Graham and Dodd - specifically seek out companies with low P/B ratios. However, investors should be careful not to make investment decisions on this metric alone, without considering a company's earning and growth potential, since a low P/B ratio can be a sign of a bleak future for the business.
P/E ratio is a popular way of making a quick judgment of a company valuation. Value investors - followers of Graham and Dodd - often seek solid companies with low P/E ratios as investment opportunities. However, P/E ratio represents an oversimplified approach to business valuation, and can often lead to incorrect investment decisions.
Effective at the close of business on December 31, 1996, the Company purchased South West Property Trust Inc., in a statutory merger for total consideration of approximately $572 million. The Merger has been accounted for as a purchase in accordance with Accounting Principles Board Opinion No. 16. Assets and liabilities acquired were recorded at their estimated fair values at December 31, 1996 and results of operations are included from the date of acquisition. Accordingly, the results of operations for South West are excluded from the Company's consolidated statements of operations for the year ended December 31, 1996. In connection with the Merger, the Company acquired primarily real estate assets totaling $559.6 million. Consideration given by the Company included 22.8 million shares of the Company's common stock valued at $14.125 per share for all of the outstanding common stock of South West for an aggregate equity value of approximately $322.1 million. In addition, the Company assumed debt and other liabilities totaling $248.8 million.
For the three months ended March 31, 2008, UDR sold 84 communities, one commercial unit, one parcel of land, and 22 condominiums from two communities with a total of 640 condominiums. UDR recognized after-tax gains for financial reporting purposes of $767.1 million on these sales. The results of operations for these properties are classified on the Consolidated Statements of Operations in the line item titled "Income from discontinued operations, net of minority interests." In conjunction with the sale of 84 properties in March 2008, UDR received a note in the amount of $200 million. The note matures on March 31, 2014, may be pre-paid fourteen months from the date of the note, bears interest at a fixed rate of 7.5% per annum and is secured by a pledge and security agreement and a guarantee from the buyers parent company.
On June 4, 2012, the Company closed a public offering of 19,000,000 shares of its common stock, including 2,850,000 shares sold as a result of the underwriters' exercise of their overallotment option in full at the closing, at a price of $25.70 per share, for gross proceeds of approximately $561.5 million and net proceeds of approximately $538.8 million after underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses. Proceeds from the sale of shares through this offering were used to repay approximately $363.9 million of the Companys 3.3% (weighted average interest rate) secured debt with various maturities from 2012 - 2014, to redeem all of its outstanding Series G Preferred Stock, to repay a portion of indebtedness outstanding under its unsecured credit facility, and the balance for working capital and general corporate purposes.