ROIC Suspended Its Dividend, But Remain Patient With This Stock
Retail Opportunity Investments Corp. (NASDAQ: ROIC) recently suspended its dividend after reporting a roughly 9% drop in profits in the first quarter of the year. But while it is true that ROIC is invested entirely in retail, a sector that is not expected to perform well in today's world of social distancing, the company appears to be positioned to withstand the current downturn in the economy.
ROIC owns 88 shopping centers, all of which are currently open and heavily centered around grocery and drug stores, businesses that are considered "essential" by the government and that are seeing lots of demand during this time. I think the suspension of the dividend is simply a move by executives to stay conservative as the economy enters a quarter that is expected to see a significant decline in GDP, potentially as much as 40%.
Image Source: ROIC.
Source Fool.com
