The coronavirus pandemic has had a huge and negative impact on senior living properties. For a time in 2021, it looked like things were improving for nursing home-focused Omega Healthcare (NYSE: OHI). But its fourth-quarter earnings release suggests that the upturn stalled out. Is this real estate investment trust (REIT) a buy, or would income investors be better off waiting for more recovery before jumping aboard?
In Omega Healthcare's second-quarter 2021 earnings conference call, management noted that it needs occupancy to be north of 80% "in order to meaningfully mitigate the cash flow reductions from a pandemic." The healthcare REIT's occupancy started 2021 at 72.3% and ended the year at 75.8%. So throughout 2021 the trend was moving, albeit slowly, in the right direction.
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Source Fool.com