Stocks have surged over the past few months. That rally has pushed most major stock market indexes toward their all-time highs. A big driver has been an expansion of valuation multiples. The S&P 500 currently trades at 23.5 times earnings, while the Nasdaq 100 is above 31. So bargains are few and far between.
However, several high-yield dividend stocks trade at compelling discounts right now, including Agree Realty(NYSE: ADC), Iron Mountain(NYSE: IRM), and Ryman Hospitality Properties(NYSE: RHP). Here's why value investors should take a closer look at these income stocks.
A low-cost way to earn passive income from real estate
Agree Realty is a real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on free-standing retail properties. Last year, it generated $3.95 per share of adjusted funds from operations (FFO). With shares recently trading around $56 apiece, it sells for about 14 times FFO. That's quite a discount compared to the broader market indexes.
That lower valuation is a big reason the REIT offers such a high dividend yield. It's at 5.3%, compared with 1.4% for the S&P 500. While REITs have higher dividend payout ratios than most other stocks, Agree Realty's was 74% last year, which is relatively low.
One factor weighing on the REIT is its relatively slower growth rate. While it grew its adjusted FFO by 24.2% overall last year to $378 million, it was only up 3.1% on a per-share basis. That's due to issuing stock to fund new investments; it spent $1.3 billion to expand its portfolio last year. It sees adjusted FFO per share growing by another 3% this year. While that's lower than many investors would prefer, Agree Realty still has compelling total return potential when adding in its high-yielding dividend and multiple expansion upside as interest rates fall in the coming years.
Access this megatrend at a discount
Iron Mountain is another REIT. It focuses on secure information storage, which includes operating data centers. Those facilities are seeing surging demand, powered in part by artificial intelligence. That's driving up the valuations of most data center REITs.
However, Iron Mountain currently trades at a discount to other REITs that operate data centers. The company expects to generate about $4.45 per share of FFO this year. With the REIT recently trading around $78.50 per share, it sells at about 17.5 times FFO. That also puts it at a nice discount compared to the broader market. Its lower valuation is a big reason its dividend yield is more than double the S&P 500's at 3.3%.
That's an enticing value for a company that expects to deliver accelerated growth in 2024. The company foresees its revenue growing by 10% to 12% this year, up from a 7% increase last year. Meanwhile, adjusted FFO should rise by 8% this year, an increase from 4% growth in 2023. Given the strong and growing demand for data centers, Iron Mountain could continue growing at an accelerated rate.
A great rate for high-quality hotels
Ryman Hospitality Properties produced $8.09 per share of adjusted FFO last year. The hospitality REIT recently traded at less than $115 a share, putting its valuation at around 14 times its adjusted FFO. That cheap price is a big driver of its 3.8% dividend yield.
On one hand, it will probably become a bit more expensive this year, given its adjusted FFO guidance range of $7.60 to $8.20 per share, or $7.90 at the midpoint. However, a big driver of the potentially lower adjusted FFO is the near-term negative impact of capital investments. The company plans to spend $360 million to $440 million to upgrade its hotels in 2024, which will cause some disruption and impact same-store RevPAR growth.
However, those investments should pay bigger dividends in the future. It's spending money to drive growth at its properties, including new food and beverage options, more rooms, and exciting amenities. These upgrades should enable it to generate more revenue and cash flow in the future, which it can use to pay dividends.
Bargain stocks
Despite a surging stock market, there are some interesting bargains these days. REITs Agree Realty, Iron Mountain, and Ryman Hospitality Properties trade at noticeable discounts to the broader market indexes. That's a big reason they offer such high dividend yields. Those payouts enable investors to get paid well while they wait for the market to start valuing these REITs higher.
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Matt DiLallo has positions in Iron Mountain and Ryman Hospitality Properties. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Iron Mountain. The Motley Fool recommends Ryman Hospitality Properties. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
