Real estate investment trusts, or REITs, typically offer high dividend yields, making them appealing to income investors. But President Donald Trump's tariffs continue to play havoc with the major stock indexes, and the stock market remains in a correction.
That has evolved several REIT stocks into a safe haven trade.
Recent gains have limited IBD's real estate investment trust industry group's losses to just 1% since the start of the year. The group on Wednesday ranked No. 88 among the 197 industry groups tracked by IBD, improving from No. 140 four weeks ago.
Meanwhile, the Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF is up 2.9% year to date through April 1.
In contrast, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite is down 10.4% year to date, while the S&P 500 has lost 4.6%.
With REITs outperforming in the current stock market volatility, they have started to emerge in the IBD MarketSurge Growth 250 and the IBD 50, screens that focus on stocks that are holding up the best in the current stock market.
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REIT Stocks To Watch Right Now
Nursing and assisted living facility operator CareTrust is building a consolidation that has a 33.15 conventional buy point, with an early entry at 29.37.
Essex Property Trust is bouncing back from its 50-day support level, just below a 314.65 double-bottom entry.
IBD 50 stock Essential Property Realty continues to trace a flat base with a 34.88 entry.
Curbline Properties, which owns and operates convenience shopping centers, was approaching a cup base's 25.69 entry. But sellers hit Curbline hard during Thursday's sell-off. Curbline boasts a perfect EPS Rating of 99 with a solid 95 IBD Composite Rating. Another bullish note is the stock's RS line (see point 1 in accompanying image) triggered the blue dot on the IBD MarketSurge chart.
The RS Line Blue Dot list identifies stocks whose relative strength lines are hitting new highs, while the stock is building a new base or breaking out past a new buy point. That's a bullish combination and a prime way to spot new market leaders. "It's the best list during a market correction," said MarketSurge chief Scott St. Clair.
Curbline owns and manages convenience shopping centers.
A non-REIT stock to check out for investors seeking a stable stock with a long track record of dividend increases is Enbridge.
Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Enbridge is an energy transportation giant, with pipelines that stretch from Northern Alberta to the U.S. East Coast and down to the Gulf of Mexico. Those pipelines move 30% of North American crude oil and 20% of the natural gas consumed in the United States.
Enbridge distinguishes itself with a dividend yield of 6% and a remarkable 30-year track record of dividend increases. Over this period, the dividend also has experienced a compound annual growth rate of 10%.
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A Cautious Note For REIT Stocks
While REIT stocks may be showing signs of market leadership right now, it seems unlikely that outperformance would continue in the event of a follow-through day.
A follow-through day signals the start of a new uptrend. That's typically when the leading growth stocks begin to set up and break out past correct buy points. So keep an eye on the MarketSurge Growth 250 Breaking Out Today list for a comprehensive report of leading stocks breaking out each day.
While not every follow-through day succeeds, no uptrend has ever occurred without one.
