OUTFRONT Media (OUT) Expands In Canada, Partners With BIXI

OUTFRONT Media (NYSE:OUT) recently announced a five-year partnership of its Canadian business with bike-sharing organization, BIXI. The deal will offer 600 street level ad faces in Montreal’s urban neighborhoods.

OUTFRONT Media has been managing bike-sharing stations in Los Angeles, Washington, Boston and Philadelphia for the past several years. However, the latest deal is OUTFRONT Canada’s first bike-share partnership, per which it will manage sales, install and maintain BIXI stations.

Montreal, a bike-friendly city, is also one of the first in North America to commence a bike-share program. Therefore, the partnership with BIXI will significantly boost OUTFRONT Media’s core presence. The company is well poised to capitalize on growing out-of-home (OOH) advertising with its numerous static and digital faces that cover most of the market. Further, the advertising company expects to be part of BIXI’s future development and strategic growth endeavors.

Paul Desjardins, vice president of Sales, Eastern Canada, OUTFRONT Media, noted, "Acquiring 600 faces (and growing!) at the street level in and surrounding the downtown core is a game changer for OUTFRONT in Montreal as it literally puts us 'all over the map' and offers our clients a viable, one-stop option."

With the expansion of footprint and technology, OUTFRONT Media is banking on solid demand for OOH advertising. Both national and local advertising in the United States have been aiding its performance. Further, the latest deal will likely boost the company’s top-line growth.

Also, shares of the company have gained 37.3% so far this year, outperforming 20.4% growth recorded by the industry.

However, the company faces stiff competition from other outdoor advertisers for customers, display locations and structures. Also, frequent changes in the OOH advertising regulations at the international, federal, state and local levels might act as headwinds.

Currently, OUTFRONT Media carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks from the REIT space include Duke Realty Corporation (NYSE:DRE) , Crown Castle International Corporation (NYSE:CCI) and Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) . Each of these stocks carries a Zacks Rank of 2 (Buy), currently. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Duke Realty’s funds from operations (FFO) per share estimates for the ongoing year have been revised marginally upward to $1.43 over the past month.

Crown Castle’s Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 FFO per share has been revised marginally upward to $5.97 over the past month.

Cousins Properties’ FFO per share estimates for the current year has been revised 1.4% north to $2.94 over the past month.

Note: Anything related to earnings presented in this write-up represent funds from operations (FFO) — a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs.

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