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Industrial REITs Gain After Upgrade On Price

The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Recent sell-offs in stocks of AMB Property Corp. and Duke Realty Corp. have made them more attractive buys, an analyst who upgraded the stocks said Monday.

The companies, which own and develop industrial real estate, were upgraded to "hold" from "sell" by Citi Investment Research analyst Michael Bilerman.

Progress is being made on asset sales and refinancing, he said, but raised his risk rating to "speculative" on both stocks to reflect the difficulty of raising capital in the current economy.

Shares of AMB Property rose 15.3 percent to $13.89, while Duke Realty stock gained 15.6 percent to $5.71.

In the past year, shares of the two companies have traded as high as $60.17 and $27.21, respectively.

Distribution-facility owner ProLogis, on the other hand, still has a "ways to go," Bilerman said, with a large amount of assets that must be sold. He kept his "sell" rating on the stock, but shares still soared nearly 17 percent to $6.30.