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Plymouth Industrial Boosts Growth With Healthy Leasing Activity in Q3

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Plymouth Industrial REIT (PLYM - Free Report) continues to showcase its resilience and growth potential in the industrial real estate market, as evidenced by its leasing and development activity in the third quarter of 2024. The industrial REIT addressed 74% of its 2024 lease expirations and 39% of its 2025 lease expirations.

Leases commencing during the third quarter totaled 1,095,115 square feet, all with terms of at least six months. This healthy leasing activity consisted of both renewal and new leases, with 598,858 square feet of renewal leases and 496,257 square feet of new leases. Rental rates under these leases mark a 12.2% increase on a cash basis, contributing to its strong performance.

As of Sept. 30, 2024, the company's portfolio occupancy stood at 94.2%. This reflects a 230-basis point (bps) impact of the prior disclosed St. Louis vacancy, a 20 bps impact of the inclusion of the recently acquired Memphis value-added portfolio and a 30 bps impact of net leasing activity in the quarter. Same-store occupancy as of the same date was 97.5%

Executed leases scheduled to commence during 2024, inclusive of activity through the third quarter, aggregated to 5,646,792 square feet. All of these leases are associated with a period of at least six months. 

Representing 73.7% of total 2024 expirations, these leases comprised 4,108,913 square feet of renewal leases and 1,537,879 square feet of new leases, of which 138,924 square feet remained unoccupied at the beginning of 2024. The rental rates from these leases reflect a 17.2% increase on a cash basis, illustrating management's proactive approach to securing future revenue streams.

Acquisitions, Development and Disposition Activity

Plymouth acquired a 1,621,241-square-foot portfolio of industrial properties positioned across the Southeast and Northeast submarkets of Memphis, TN, during the quarter for a purchase price of $100.5 million, equating to an initial NOI yield of 8.0%. Comprising 14 buildings, this portfolio is presently 94.0% leased to 46 tenants with a weighted average remaining lease term of around 3.4 years. This portfolio also offers a parcel that can be utilized for the potential future development of an incremental 115,000-square-foot building.

PLYM also concluded the prior announced sale of its 527,127-square-foot industrial property in Columbus, OH, to the tenant for $21.1 million in net proceeds.

Plymouth's development initiatives are equally noteworthy. The final project in the first stage of its development program, a fully leased 52,920-square-foot building in Jacksonville, is anticipated to be operational in November of this year. For its 154,692-square-foot industrial building in Cincinnati, OH, Plymouth has signed a 10-year lease, which will commence in April 2025. with economic occupancy beginning in September 2024. With that, this property and the entire development program will be fully leased.

Final Thoughts on PLYM

Plymouth, with its healthy leasing activity and strategically planned development program, is well-positioned to benefit over the long term. However, the rising supply of industrial real estate is a key concern. 

PLYM's upcoming third-quarter earnings release on Nov. 6, 2024, after market close, and a conference call on Nov. 7 are events that investors should keep an eye on for further insights into its financial performance and strategic outlook.

Shares of Plymouth, currently carrying a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), have risen 2.5% in the past three months compared with the industry’s growth of 16.2%.

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Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks from the broader REIT sector are Lamar Advertising (LAMR - Free Report) and Cousins Properties (CUZ - Free Report) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Lamar Advertising’s 2024 FFO per share of $8.09 indicates an 8.3% increase year over year.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Cousins Properties’ 2024 FFO per share is pegged at $2.67, which suggests 1.9% year-over-year growth.

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


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