Where in the World is W. P. Carey's Portfolio?
When it comes to net lease real estate investment trusts (REITs), the 800-pound gorilla is Realty Income (NYSE: O). But investors shouldn't stop with this industry giant, because there are other companies, like W. P. Carey (NYSE: WPC), that offer unique benefits because of their differentiated business models. One example of this can be seen when you examine Realty Income's geographic footprint and compare it to W.P. Carey's portfolio.
W. P. Carey really dances to its own beat in the REIT sector. For starters, its portfolio spans the industrial (27% of rents), warehouse (24%), office (17%), retail (17%), and self-storage (5%) sectors ("other" makes up the difference). Most net lease REITs focus on a smaller opportunity set, and often just a single property category. (Net leases require tenants to pay most property-level operating costs.) On top of that, W. P. Carey's portfolio extends well beyond the U.S. border (38% of rents are "foreign"), which only two other net lease REITs really do in any meaningful way.
So when you step back and look at W. P. Carey from a big-picture perspective, its only notable comparison points are Realty Income and Global Net Lease (NYSE: GNL). Both of these REITs have at least modest property-type diversification and material assets outside of the U.S. market. But they are drastically different when it comes to scale. Realty Income's market cap is $41 billion, while Global Net Lease's market cap is just $1.1 billion or so. For reference, W. P. Carey's market cap is just under $15 billion, which makes it one of the largest options after Realty Income.
Source Fool.com
