Has Getty Realty Corp. (GTY) Become the Perfect Stock? – BP plc (ADR) (BP), Global Partners LP (GLP)

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Since we looked at Getty Realty last year, the company has dropped a point, as its revenue declined. Yet the restoration of its dividend helped send its shares up 50% over the past year.

Getty Realty Corp. (NYSE:GTY) is structured as a real estate investment trust, owning the real estate underlying hundreds of gas stations that it then leases to Getty Petroleum Marketing and other gas-station operators. With the bankruptcy of Getty Petroleum in late 2011, which had been by far its largest source of revenue, Getty Realty found itself having to suspend its dividend.

But early last year, Getty Realty Corp. (NYSE:GTY) successfully petitioned the bankruptcy court to repossess the gas stations it had leased to Getty Petroleum. Since then, it has been able to enter new station-leasing deals with a number of downstream-marketing companies, with Lehigh Gas Partners (NYSE:LGP) taking on 145 properties and BP plc (ADR) (NYSE:BP) leasing 28 stations. A subsidiary of Global Partners LP (NYSE:GLP) also stepped up to take 84 stations in the New York City metropolitan area. Getty Realty has also sold outright many of the locations it had formerly leased to Getty Petroleum.

Now, Getty Realty Corp. (NYSE:GTY) is looking to expand. The REIT said earlier this month that it was interested in acquiring new retail-gasoline locations. With $100 million to spend on acquisitions, the company wants more money-making properties to continue its huge success.

For Getty Realty to improve, it merely needs to continue on its transformative course. Now no longer a captive company to Getty Petroleum, Getty Realty Corp. (NYSE:GTY) has built a diversified business that has much greater chances of becoming successful in the long run.

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The article Has Getty Realty Become the Perfect Stock? originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Dan Caplinger.

Fool contributor Dan Caplinger and The Motley Fool have no position in any of the stocks mentioned.

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