It’s another one of those mornings where there’s a whole lot to write about with too many potential topics to organize in any orderly fashion.

I’ve had to pick and choose as a result, but Yahoo Finance’s article about “17 Food Companies That Have Warned About Rising Inflation” definitely makes the cut.

“Start saving those pennies now,” it advises, “because your grocery bill will likely head higher [as] soon as food giants pass along inflationary costs in transportation and those related to new Covid-19 related protocols.”

Ouch.

Jefferies food sector analyst Rob Dickerson recently released a research note that points to big-name brands such as Campbell Soup (CPB), General Mills (GIS), Kraft Heinz (KHC), McCormick (MKC), and Hershey (HSY) warning about rising levels of inflation.

As we all know, when a company gets hit with added rules, regulations, and other hardships, it’s very likely the consumer will pay the ultimate and quite literal price whether anyone likes it or not.

Meanwhile, the “bubble or no bubble” debate continues on, with Bridgewater Associates billionaire Ray Dalio warning that we’re “halfway” to the kind of unjustified expansion that led to the dot.com crash. Yet Goldman Sachs shrugged that concern off with a memo of its own by calling near-term risk of such things “relatively low.”

By now, most of my readers know that I do think most stocks are overvalued. Last year’s recovery was one of the fastest ones we’ve ever seen – and from one of the biggest drops we’ve ever seen. So while I was more than happy to participate in it to some degree, the key words there are “to some degree.”

Valuation is far too important a factor for me to ignore. Because even the most solid of companies can lose us a lot of money if we buy into them when they’re trading at unsustainable levels.

Last but not least on my “general details” coverage list this morning, I do want to focus on real estate for a moment: New York City real estate, to be precise.

Despite the debacle of early 2019, when Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez helped pressure Amazon (AMZN) to abandon its idea of establishing a second headquarters in Queens… Amazon still wants a better grip on the Big Apple.

Millionacres writes:

“New York City is notoriously jam-packed, and its streets offer little room for delivery vehicles. Warehouse space is also extremely limited in the city, making it harder to fulfill orders quickly for certain zip codes. It’s for this reason that Amazon has been steadily seeking to expand its warehousing resources in New York City and the surrounding area…

“To date, the online retail giant has amassed at least 12 warehouses spread out across New York City’s five boroughs, one of which is a massive 1 million-plus square-foot space. Amazon has also added over two dozen warehouses to its portfolio in the suburbs surrounding New York City.”

Keep in mind that this company is run by one of the richest men in the world who has almost unfathomable resources at his disposal – including data mining and analysis that is literally out of this world.

You really think he’s going to make that much effort to expand his presence in a city that’s dead?

I’m not saying that’s a fool-proof argument, mind you. Neither Bezos nor Amazon are omnipotent by any stretch of the imagination.

At the same time, they’ve done pretty well so far, to say the least. So on top of everything else I’m seeing about New York these days, I remain cautiously optimistic about its mid-term future.

The World According to Commercial Real Estate

The last 24 hours in REIT-dom have been filled with a spate of internal upgrades as companies continue to emerge from the shutdowns and assess their changed landscapes. For instance:

• Regency Centers (REG) promoted two current employees: Scott Prigge to manager director of property operations and Barry Argalas to senior vice president of national transactions and investment strategy.
• Kite Realty Group Trust (KRG) appointed Derrick Burks to its board as an independent member. In all, the company now has 10 trustees.
• Apartment Income REIT (AIRC) promoted Patti Shwayder from senior vice president of strategic partnerships to chief corporate responsibility officer.

There was also some analyst movement about the REITs in our coverage, though not all of that was positive. For one, S&P revised its outlook on Federal Realty Investment Trust (FRT) from stable to negative “to reflect longer than anticipated pressure on leverage metrics.”

I guess we’ll have to see how long it takes for the business to get back in S&P’s good graces from here.

In the meantime, here are other short-term losers and winners:

(Source: The Daily REITBeat)