Athos Immobilien Stock Analysis – Own Homes In Linz (Simple and Easy)
Athos Immobilien Stock
Vienna: ATH
Athos Immobilien stock analysis is part of my full analysis, stock by stock of all the stocks listed on the Austrian Stock Exchange. Austria is one of the cheapest stock markets globally at the moment so please check the Austria Stock List for interesting investments.
Athos Immobilien Stock Analysis – investing overview
The Athos Immobilien Stock analysis is a pretty simple one as the company owns real estate in Austria. I often get questions about whether a specific real estate stock is a good stock or even whether real estate investments are good or bad. Well, the answer depends only on whether you wish to own that particular real estate property. Investing in real estate has fewer moving factors than investing in businesses and it also depends on what you focus on.
If interest rates go up, the value of the real estate will likely go down, and some would say real estate would not be a good investment in such an environment. On the other hand, if inflation goes up, real estate investing gives protection in a form. But that is mostly speculation.
When it comes to investing in real estate, it is all about the cash flow the property produces and whether you are happy with the property at a given price and the cash flow coming from it. Let’s analyse Athos Immobilien stock to see how one should go about investing in real estate.
Athos Immobilien stock analysis – business overview
Athos Immobilien is a business founded in 1989. Number of shares outstanding – 1.744.373.
It is a developer, investor and landlord of real estate in Oberösterreich (Upper Austria) and this is what they do:
The portfolio consists of mostly housing in Upper Austria, especially in Linz. They have a portfolio of 64,500 square meters and one project in the making.
The company expanded fast up to 2007, and since then it stabilized.
The rental income has also been stable and around 5.5 million EUR per year.
This is perhaps the most important chart when it comes to investing in Real Estate.
I don’t know what happened in the 2000s, probably different investments or vacancies, but since then net rent per square meter went up constantly and slowly. If you are an investor in real estate, that is what you are investing in.
If you are a speculator, then you are speculating on interest rates, economic demand and other things that nobody can predict. What usually happens is that such speculators make a good deal here and there but then often get stuck in a bad deal – when that happens with real estate – we are talking about decades of bad returns. Therefore, I prefer focusing on cash flows.
All in all, nothing special, homes in Linz. Let’s see the investing fundamentals.
Athos Immobilien Stock Analysis – Fundamentals
They have a focus on making equity investments, which means low leverage, consequently high safety, but also lower returns.
They have sold some property lately, but not that much compared to the portfolio.
Those sales resulted in special dividends.
But the standard dividend is around 0.6 EUR per share. The stock price is 39.8 which leads to a dividend yield of 1.5% from regular business. If there are more property sales, the dividend yield might be higher.
The market capitalization is 70 million EUR, the total number of square meters owned is 65,000 meters and the value of the reported portfolio is 113 million Eur or 1,738 EUR per square meter. I have looked a bit at home prices in Linz, and those are much higher than that. So, there might be some hidden value there, especially as real estate is depreciated over time and one day the accounting value is zero but the real value might be millions.
But, if you sell you also have to pay taxes, repay the debt so that you always have to keep in mind there is a discount when investing in real estate holdings. With long-term rent contracts, many are not even sellable on the open market.
Home prices in Austria have gone up strongly over the last decade due to lower interest rates. So, it is likely the real value of the assets could be higher. But, that is again betting on where prices are and what the management will do.
The balance sheet says the portfolio value is 78 million but their fair value estimation is 113 million (depreciation difference without added value from revaluation). In any case, they have about 30 million in debt for that.
They have about 30 million in debt for that and about 50 million in equity.
The market cap is 70 million so the higher values are already priced in. Also, keep in mind depreciation. It is an accounting cost, but not a reality as real estate prices don’t really go down. But, for investing, cash flows are what matters.
Athos Immobilien Stock Forecast – Investment Conclusion
The likely outcome is single digit dividend yields with higher bonus dividends when some properties are sold at fair value, after paying taxes on the gain. So, it is all about whether you want to be an owner of housing in Linz for a dividend between 1.5% and 5% in a good year. The debt is low, so no worries on bankruptcy issues, the management is conservative and the risk is consequently low. There will be likely value appreciation if there is high inflation in Europe, but that can be found in many other stocks too. See how this fits your portfolio, financial goals and whether it is the vehicle that will lead you there. The risk is low, but the returns will likely not be stellar.
The Athos Stock Analysis is part of the full Austrian Stock Market Analysis make by Sven Carlin for the Sven Carlin Stock Market Research Platform.
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