Stock Valuation: Cousins Property Inc. (CUZ)

Name of Company Country of Origin/ Exchange Traded Sector Stock Price
COUSINS PROPERTIES INC US/
NYSE
Real Estate – REITs – REIT – Diversified USD9.59
@ 21 Jun 2018
COMPANY PROFILE Cousins Properties Inc is a real estate investment trust engaged in developing, acquiring, leasing, managing and owning office properties and opportunistic mixed-use developments. Its properties are located mainly in North Carolina, Texas and Georgia.

Cousins Properties is a real estate investment trust principally involved in the ownership, management, and development of properties in the Southern United States. Cousins Properties’ real estate portfolio primarily comprises offices and mixed-use developments that encompass both apartment and retail space. Offices make up the vast majority of the portfolio in terms of total square footage. Cousins’ assets are mainly located in Texas and Georgia, with North Carolina also playing host to a smaller amount of rental space. The company derives nearly all of its revenue in the form of rental income from its properties, most of which comes from its office locations. A diverse set of tenants in the cities of Houston and Atlanta represent the company’s major markets.

Stock Code CUZ
Stock Valuation and Dividend Analysis Below

Cousins Property Dividend Yield

For stocks that has a history of paying meaningful dividends, the stock price is often dependent on how much dividend the company pays.
At the price of USD9.59 as at 21 Jun 2018, Cousins Properties Inc is trading at a Dividend Yield of 2.7%. This is a 17.8% premium to its historical average Dividend Yield of 3.3%.  (Note: The lower/higher the dividend yield, the more expensive/cheaper the stock is.)
Is the stock overvalued? One should not just look at one indicator to determine the fair value of a stock.
ProThinker believes in using a combination of valuation methods to decide whether a stock is over or undervalued? The five ratios we use are Price to Earnings, Price to Sales, Price to Cash Flow, Price to Book and Dividend Yield. We use multiple methods to value a stock because each has its benefits as well as shortcomings. Price to Earnings and Price to Cash Flow Ratios relate stock price to profitability but are meaningless when the comany has negative earnings or cash flows. Price to Sales Ratio is more stable because sales are never negative. However, this does not tell us whether the company is able to sell profitably. Price to Book Ratio gives us an indication as to how much we are paying for the company’s assets but it is not directly related to the company’s profitability. Dividend Yield cannot be used for companies that are paying little to no dividends.
While it is important to value stocks based on multiple valuation methods, this often leads to differing views on valuation. One indicator may suggest that a stock is overvalued while another suggest that it is undervalued. This does not help an investor who needs to make a definite decision whether to buy, hold or sell the stock. That is why we advocate the use of a Composite Valuation Indicator, which is derived from the best combination of the five indicators above. A Composite Valuation Indicator will give you ONE conclusion on whether a stock is under or over valued.
To find out more about our valuation methodology, click here. 
We should not only be concerned about the amount of dividends, we should determine if the dividends paid out by the company are sustainable. One way to do that is to compare dividends paid out to the cash flows that the company is generating.
There are times when the company pays out more dividends than its funds from operations, which is not sustainable.

Cousins Property Dividends vs. Funds from Operations (FFO)

Source of Data: Price to Sales chart is from ProThinker Stock Report. Company description, historical financial statements data and price data are from gurufocus.com. Estimates are from gurufocus and/or 4-traders.com – Thomson Reuters.
Disclaimer: This report is for information purposes only and should not be considered a solicitation to buy or sell any security. Neither ProThinker nor any other party guarantees its accuracy or makes warranties regarding results from its usage. Redistribution is prohibited without the express written consent of ProThinker. Copyright(c) 2018. All rights reserved.