Realty Income Emerges as Value Play in Historically Expensive Market
The S&P 500's forward P/E ratio of 23x towers above its 20-year average of 15x, signaling stretched valuations across equity markets. Yet Realty Income (O) presents a stark contrast—the REIT trades at just 14x forward FFO with a 5.5% dividend yield, nearly triple the broader index's payout.
Despite delivering sector-leading 9.7% annualized total returns over five years, Realty Income remains discounted to REIT peers trading at 18x earnings. This valuation gap persists even as the company demonstrates consistent operational outperformance, suggesting market mispricing of its income-generating real estate portfolio.