Key Reasons to Add Kimco Realty Stock to Your Portfolio Now

Kimco Realty Corp.’s KIM focus on grocery-anchored centers and mixed-use assets and balance sheet-strengthening moves will help the retail REIT bank on growth scopes.

Last month, Kimco reported fourth-quarter 2025 FFO per share of 44 cents, meeting the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The metric grew 4.8% from the year-ago quarter. Results reflected higher same-property net operating income (NOI), driven by improved occupancy and a rise in minimum rents.

Analysts seem positive about this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for KIM’s 2026 FFO per share has moved marginally northward over the past month to $1.81.

Given its solid fundamentals and positive estimate revisions, the stock is likely to keep performing well in the quarters ahead.

Factors That Make Kimco Realty a Solid Pick

Grocery Anchored Tenant Base: In 2025, Kimco achieved 86% annualized base rent from its grocery-anchored portfolio, up from 78% in 2020. With a well-located and largely grocery-anchored portfolio that offers essential goods and services, this retail REIT is witnessing healthy leasing activity.

In 2025, Kimco executed 1,951 leases, aggregating 12.1 million square feet in its consolidated operating portfolio, of which 1,343 were renewals and options, and 608 were new leases. In the fourth quarter of 2025, Kimco witnessed 60 consecutive quarters of positive leasing spreads, indicating solid pricing power across its high-quality portfolio.

Mixed Use Asset Focus: Kimco emphasizes mixed-use assets clustered in strong economic MSAs that serve as last-mile properties. The company is particularly targeting an increase in net asset value through a selected collection of mixed-use projects, redevelopments and active investment management. Such efforts are likely to add to its competitive advantage.

Strategic Expansion Efforts: Kimco has been following an opportunistic investment policy to enhance its overall portfolio quality. This includes divesting its joint venture assets that have maximized their value and using the proceeds to fund acquisitions, and development and redevelopment projects. During 2025, Kimco sold properties worth $109 million. In the same period, the company acquired properties worth $206.1 million.

Balance Sheet Strength: Kimco has been making efforts to bolster its financial strength. This retail REIT exited the fourth quarter of 2025 with $2.2 billion of immediate liquidity. Kimco’s consolidated weighted average debt maturity profile is 7.9 years. In December 2025, Moody’s upgraded Kimco’s senior unsecured credit rating to A3 from Baa1, with a stable outlook. The move strengthens Kimco’s credit profile and positions it to access debt at more favorable rates.

Solid Dividend Payment: Solid dividend payouts remain the biggest attraction for REIT investors, and Kimco has remained committed to that. Concurrent with its third-quarter 2025 earnings release, it announced a 4% increase in the dividend to 26 cents per share from 25 cents paid out earlier. In the last five years, this retail REIT has increased its dividend seven times, with a five-year annualized dividend growth rate of 9.78%. These efforts to increase the dividend reaffirm investors’ confidence in the stock. Check Kimco Realty’s dividend history here.

Key Risks for KIM

Higher e-commerce adoption and competition from several real estate companies are key concerns for Kimco. Significant debt burden add to its woes.

Over the past three months, shares of this retail real estate investment trust (REIT) company have risen 14.4% compared with the industry's growth of 14.2%.

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Other Stocks to Consider

Some other top-ranked stocks from the retail REIT sector are EPR Properties EPR and Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. PECO, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for EPR Properties’ 2026 FFO per share has been raised marginally over the past month to $5.27.

The consensus estimate for Phillips Edison & Company’s 2026 FFO per share has been revised upward marginally to $2.74 over the past two months.

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

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Kimco Realty Corporation (KIM): Free Stock Analysis Report

EPR Properties (EPR): Free Stock Analysis Report

Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. (PECO): Free Stock Analysis Report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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