W.P. Carey Q2 Results Top Estimates; Street Says Buy

Net lease real estate investment trust (REIT) operator W. P. Carey, Inc. (WPC) has reported better-than-expected second-quarter results on the back of growth in revenues. Following the news, shares of the company rose marginally to close at $80.69 in Friday’s trading session.

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W.P. Carey reported quarterly revenues of $319.7 million, a growth of 10.1% from the same period last year. This growth in revenues can be attributed primarily to the rise in the company’s real estate revenues, which rose 11% from last year to $314.8 million. Moreover, it surpassed the consensus estimate of $312.16 million.

Adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) per share grew 11.4% from last year to $1.27. Meanwhile, the company has raised its guidance for 2021 AFFO per share to $4.94-$5.02 from $4.87-$4.97 earlier.

Also, for the second quarter, the company reported portfolio occupancy of 98%, and its weighted average lease term increased to 10.8 years.

The CEO of W.P. Carey, Jason Fox, said, “Our accelerated pace of deal closings during the second quarter brought investment volume for the first half of the year to $1 billion, driving AFFO growth and putting us on a trajectory to generate record annual deal volume. Supported by an active deal pipeline and a favorable cost of capital, we’re confident in our ability to maintain a strong pace of investments in the second half of the year, as our raised guidance reflects.” (See W.P. Carey stock chart on TipRanks)

On July 30, BMO Capital analyst Frank Lee reiterated a Buy rating on the stock with a price target of $85. The analyst’s price target implies upside potential of 5.3% from current levels.

Consensus among analysts is a Strong Buy based on 5 unanimous Buys. The average W.P. Carey price target of $87.60 implies upside potential of 8.6% from current levels.

W.P. Carey scores a “Perfect 10” on TipRanks’ Smart Score rating system, indicating that the stock has strong potential to outperform market expectations. Shares have gained 15% over the past year.