A credit rating is an assessment of the riskiness of a REIT’s debt—issued and provided by one of three primary rating agencies: Moody’s Investor Services, Standard and Poor’s and Fitch Rating Services. While it is not a perfect measurement of risk for equity investors, I have found it to be a good indicator of a REIT’s risk, providing greater clarity about a REIT’s ability to grow value through access to low-cost capital. The rating agencies then assign each issuer with a rating that falls into two general categories: investment grade or sub-investment grade (historically, “junk”). TEN A-RATED REITSWithin our coverage universe, there are ten REITs rated A or higher by S&P, shown below. Many of these A-rated REITs have “taken charge” in 2019, namely Prologis (PLD) (+21.6%), Boston Properties (+19.6%) and Federal Realty (FRT)(+14.6%).

Source: Forbes March 04, 2019 12:00 UTC