Cheap Stocks Land Review 2008: Part I

Last year at this time, we ended 2007 with a review of some of the companies holding one of our favorite assets, land. I thought last year was difficult, but it pales in comparison with the drubbing that these companies suffered during 2008. Some are down more than 70%, and ultimately, this could be an interesting turn-around story.

One data calculation we use is worthy of explanation:

EV/Acres: Enterprise Value of the company/Total owned acres
Enterprise value is the market value of the firm plus debt, minus cash, and is an approximation of all claims that equity and debt holders have on a firm. We believe EV is a better estimate of true current market value, because it represents all claims investors hold in the capital structure, not just equity.

We use this calculation not to attempt to value the land on a per acre basis, but rather for perspective. The results of this calculation will be all over the board depending on the amount of land a company holds, how prominent it is in a company’s operations, as well as the land’s quality. (Obviously, timber land and marsh land is less valuable than vacation property)

Wherever possible, we obtained the latest acreage figures for each company. The "Change" figure beneath 2007 and 2008 price do not reflect dividends, where applicable. We'll run Part II within the next week.

Below is Part I, the first ten companies.

(Market Cap and EV are in $ millions)
Alexander and Baldwin
Ticker: ALEX
2007 Price: $52.95
2008 Price: $26.30
Change: -50.3%
52 High/Low: 44.52/20.64
Avg Volume: 202000
Mkt Cap: 1090(million)
Ent Value: 1580(million)
Acres Owned: 89440
EV/Acre 2007: $29,897
EV/Acre 2008: $17,665
Location: Hawaii
Primary Use: Agriculture/development
P/E: 7.6
Dividend Yield: 4.9%

Alico
Ticker: ALCO
2007 Price: $35.87
2008 Price: $35.23
Change: -1.7%
52 High/Low: 50.32/22.34
Avg Volume: 18800
Mkt Cap: 260
Ent Value: 287
Acres Owned: 136605
EV/Acre 2007: $2414
EV/Acre 2008: $2101
Location: Florida
Primary Use: Agriculture/Cattle
P/E:

Biloxi Marsh Lands
Ticker: BLMC
2007 Price: $31.00
2008 Price: $8.45
Change: -72.7%
52 High/Low: 36.25/8.45
Avg Volume: 1300
Mkt Cap: 23
Ent Value: 15.65
Acres Owned: 90000
EV/Acre 2007: $778
EV/Acre 2008: $174
Location: Louisiana
Primary Use: Oil and Gas
P/E: 9.7
Dividend Yield: 11.8%

Blue Ridge Real Estate
Ticker: BLRGZ
2007 Price: $31
2008 Price: $8.50
Change: -73%
52 High/Low: 34/8.5
Avg Volume: 45
Mkt Cap: 21
Ent Value: 51
Acres Owned: 16980
EV/Acre 2007: $5468
EV/Acre 2008: $3003
Location: Pennsylvania
Primary Use: Ski resorts, commercial, development
P/E: NM

Consolidated Tomoka Land
Ticker: CTO
2007 Price: $62.74
2008 Price: $37.7
Change: -40%
52 High/Low: 67.13/24
Avg Volume: 24300
Mkt Cap: 216
Ent Value: 237
Acres Owned: 11270
EV/Acre 2007: $31,565
EV/Acre 2008: $21,071
Location: Florida
Primary Use: Commercial, golf, development
P/E: 16.2
Dividend Yield: 1.1%


JG Boswell
Ticker: BWEL
2007 Price: $1025
2008 Price: $450
52 High/Low: 450/1000
Avg Volume: NM
Mkt Cap: 438
Ent Value: 527
Acres Owned: 172000
EV/Acre 2007: $5,988
EV/Acre 2008: $3,064
Location: California
Primary Use: Agriculture/development
Dividend Yield: 3.1%

Maui Land and Pineapple
Ticker: MLP
2007 Price: $26.62
2008 Price: $8.28
Change: -69%
52 High/Low: 8.28/34.25
Avg Volume: 25000
Mkt Cap: 66
Ent Value: 174
Acres Owned: 25400
2007 EV/Acre: $9,764
2008 EV/Acre: $6,850
Location: Hawaii
Primary Use: Development/Agriculture
P/E: NM

PICO Holdings
Ticker: PICO
2007 Price: $34.16
2008 Price: $23.76
Change: 30%
52 High/Low: 48.24/16.06
Avg Volume: 149000
Mkt Cap: 448
Ent Value: 336
Acres Owned: 460000
EV/Acre 2007: $1054
EV/Acre 2008: $730
Location: Nevada
Primary Use: Water/development
P/E: 15.7

Plum Creek Timber
Ticker: PCL
2007 Price: $45.16
2008 Price: $34.99
Change: -22.5%
52 High/Low: 56/27.33
Avg Volume: 4120000
Mkt Cap: 6000
Ent Value: 8430
Acres Owned: 8000000
2007 EV/Acre: $1231
2008 EV/Acre: $750
Location: 18 states
Primary Use: Timber, some development
P/E: 23.5
Dividend Yield: 4.8%

Rayonier
Ticker: RYN
2007 Price: $45.59
2008 Price: $29.58
Change: -35%
52 High/Low: 26.58/49.54
Avg Volume: 1505000
Mkt Cap: 2330
Ent Value: 3070
Acres Owned: 1916272
2007 EV/Acre: $2,115
2008 EV/Acre: $1,602
Location: several states
Primary Use: Timber, some development
P/E: 16.5
Dividend Yield: 6.5%

During the year, we closed our positions in PCL and MLP.



*The author holds positions in BLMC, BWEL, PICO. This is neither a recommendation to buy or sell any securities. All information provided believed to be reliable and presented for information purposes only. The author will not trade any of the securities mentioned (buy, sell, short) for at least two weeks following the date of this post.