market folly

At Invest For Kids Chicago yesterday, Michael Elrad of GEM Realty Capital gave a presentation on going long Class A malls and Macerich (MAC).

Be sure to check out all notes from Invest For Kids Chicago where numerous high profile hedge fund managers shared their latest investment ideas.


Long Macerich (MAC)

Elrad likes investing in both private and public real estate. He likes top down real estate themes, bottom-up investing (long and short), and hedging. His top down theme is Class A malls. 90% are owned by public companies like Simon Property Group (SPG), Westfield, Macerich (MAC), and Taubman (TCO). Leases are 10 years in tenure and 6.3% nominal cap rates and 5% for private.

His idea is to go long Macerich (MAC). It has a 4.4% dividend versus 3.7% for its peers. It is 84% Class A malls and has reduced leverage to 45% down from 84% before the recession. It has 4% more of its holdings in Class A malls than its competitors and is likely the next REIT to be added to the S&P 500.

MAC trades at a 10% discount to its peers and has a de-staggered board and is an acquisition candidate. You can hedge if you want to with non class B malls/strip center REITS - he'd hedge 50 cents for every 1 dollar of MAC.

He likes malls because there's often Apple (AAPL) stores in them. He says they've been a success because upscale malls drive people who can touch and understand products and he feels this is a reason there's not internet risk (market share).

You can view full notes from Invest For Kids Chicago here.