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Kimco Realty Shares Jump On Stock Upgrade

The Associated Press

NEW HYDE PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Shares of Kimco Realty Corp. jumped as much as 22.7 percent Friday, after a Standard & Poor's analyst upgraded the stock and the real estate investment trust priced a shares offering.

Standard & Poor's Equity Research analyst Robert McMillan upgraded Kimco Realty to "Hold" from "Sell", citing demand for its portfolio and the money it's expected to raise from the offering of 91.5 million shares of common stock at $7.10 per share.

The shares, which are priced at a 5.2 percent discount to the stock's $7.49 Thursday closing price, are expected to yield about $623.6 million, the company said. It will use the proceeds for debt repayment and general corporate purposes, the company said.

Kimco said it granted underwriters the option to purchase an additional 13.7 million shares to cover overallotments. It expects the offering to close on or around Wednesday.

The REIT should get help in meeting debt repayments of about $1.3 billion this year and next from the offering, $394 million in cash and securities, and $1 billion it has available under its credit facilities, McMillan said.

The analyst trimmed his 2009 funds from operations estimate to $1.13 per share from $1.47, and reduced his 2010 FFO estimate to $1.25 from $1.68, but maintained his target price at $8.50.

Wall Street analysts expect FFO of $1.73 per share this year, and $1.72 per share in 2010, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters.

Funds from operations, a key measure of a REIT's performance, is earnings with depreciation and amortization added back in.

Shares rose $1.69, or 22.4 percent, to $9.17 in afternoon trading, after reaching $9.24 earlier Friday. The stock has ranged between $6.33 and $47.80 over the past 12 months, and is off 59 percent since January.