I'm old enough to remember having shopped at Alexander's, which was a department store "way back when." Today, however, what's left of that business is a set of properties owned by a real estate investment trust (REIT) that bears the Alexander's (NYSE: ALX) name. It is offering investors a huge 10%-plus yield today, but you really need to understand the risks here before you buy it.

Sometimes, in the retail sector, the most valuable asset a store or restaurant owns is the land underneath the business. That was clearly the case for Alexander's department store, which went out of business many years ago. The name survived because the retailer's property was redeveloped for other uses. And, thus, Alexander's was transformed into a REIT.

Image source: Getty Images.

Continue reading

Source Fool.com