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Highwoods (HIW) Q1 FFO & Revenue Beat Estimates, NOI Rises

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Highwoods Properties, Inc.’s (HIW - Free Report) first-quarter 2021 funds from operations (FFO) per share of 91 cents surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 87 cents. Moreover, rental and other revenues of $183.8 million outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $180.6 million.

Decent leasing activity as well as rent and same-property cash net operating income (NOI) growth aided results.

However, FFO per share declined 2.2% from 91 cents recorded in the year-ago period. Rental and other revenues in the first quarter also decreased 4.7% year over year.

Quarter in Detail

Highwoods leased 553,000 square feet of second-generation office space in the first quarter, including 247,000 square feet of new leases. In-place cash rent was up 5.3% per square foot on a year-over-year basis.

At the end of the reported quarter, occupancy was 89.6%.

Excluding the negative impacts of the temporary rent deferral agreements, same-property cash NOI increased 4.8% year over year.

As of Mar 31, 2021, Highwoods had $49.3 million of cash and cash equivalents compared with $109.3 million reported as of Dec 31, 2020. The company exited the reported quarter with the full availability of funds under its new credit facility.

In the first quarter, it sold a 100,000-sq-ft non-core office building in Atlanta for $30.7 million.

Guidance

Highwoods expects 2021 FFO per share of $3.54-$3.66 compared with $3.50-$3.66 mentioned earlier. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the same is pegged at $3.60.

Same-property cash NOI for 2021 is projected at 3.5-5.25%, up from 3-5% mentioned earlier, whereas year-end occupancy is estimated to be 88.5-91.5%. Dispositions in 2021 are expected to be $250-$300 million, while acquisitions are likely to be $680-$769 million.

Highwoods currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Highwoods Properties, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

 

Highwoods Properties, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Highwoods Properties, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Highwoods Properties, Inc. Quote

We now look forward to the earnings releases of other REITs like Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (DLR - Free Report) ,Cousins Properties (CUZ - Free Report) and CubeSmart (CUBE - Free Report) . All three companies are slated to report first-quarter earnings on Apr 29.

Note: Anything related to earnings presented in this write-up represent funds from operations (FFO) — a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs.

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