2023-03-06 08:55:46 ET
- Healthcare Realty Trust ( NYSE: HR ) shares drifted down 2.2% in Monday premarket trading after Credit Suisse downgraded the health care REIT to Neutral from Outperform on the basis of "less enthusiastic" growth prospects.
- Specifically, some synergies from its recent merger with Healthcare Trust of America might not fully materialize, analyst Tayo Okusanya wrote in a note. He's particularly concerned that "some of the G&A synergies were obtained by laying off a meaningful amount of the HTA leasing team which suggests HR will ultimately still incur these costs via leasing commissions to third party brokers."
- Loss of the HTA leasing team also puts pressure on the ability to boost occupancy in the HTA portfolio, the note said.
- On top of that, Okusanya cited persistent inflation, rising property taxes and interest rates as other drivers that will potentially impact HR's growth.
- The Neutral rating was in-line with the Quant system rating of Hold and diverged from the average analyst rating of Buy.
- On March 1, Healthcare Realty turned in Q4 profit above consensus on n et operating income growth and lower costs .
For further details see:
Healthcare Realty cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse on growth concerns