Stock price when the opinion was issued
They're the best Canadian operator in this space, but there are many sophisticated private ones as well. The competition is fierce. Also, it will get harder to staff these places. Thirdly, there's the uncertainty over interest rates. He looked at during the pandemic and knew it would do well after the pandemic, but passed for these reasons. CSH has done well since then and will continue to do well, but isn't sure what will drive it much higher. It's a steady eddy, a good company, but unfortunately one he passed on.
Supply/demand in the space is good. People usually move in to these places around age 80, and 2025 is the very beginning of baby boomers turning 80. This should really drive demand. Properties are hard to build, also tough to operate, so you really need good management. Entirely retirement, so a little more risk but also more upside. Does better when things in the sector are good.
SIA has a mix of retirement and long-term care, which is government funded, so it's always full. More bond-like, not a lot of growth but really predictable. Does better when things are weaker in the sector.
Most favourable sector among the REITs is probably seniors housing like CSH.UN. That sector has risks, such as liability issues during pandemic. Occupancy pretty close to objective of 95%. Demographics are in its favour, people will move there because they need to not because they want to. This would be the one she'd pick to consider.
Follows quite closely. Has owned in the past, but not currently. Being a REIT, it's going to grow aggressively by developing projects and buying other companies. In a downturn in the economy, such as the pandemic, they haven't retained any capital. So they have to raise equity, and that's really dilutive to shareholders at a really bad time.
If you're a corporation in the real estate space, you control your destiny a little more.
Extendicare (EXE-T) or Chartwell seniors housing (CSH.UN-T)? Both are in the retirement space. This has been around for a long time. They had US operations, but sold them. Very focused on different levels of care, independent, semi-independent and full care. If he had to buy one, it would be this one.