In this article, we will look at the 10 Cheap REITs with Huge Upside.
On February 23, Steve Brown, Senior Portfolio Manager at American Century Investments, spoke with InvestmentNews about where REITs stand heading into 2026, noting that the outlook is more promising than many investors might expect. After essentially going nowhere in 2025, REITs are already off to a strong start this year, up nearly 9.5% year to date. Earnings forecasts are solid, valuations are attractive, and a number of property sectors actually have the pricing power to raise rents above inflation, something not every asset class can say right now.
The rotation away from tech-heavy investments is also working in REITs’ favor. With little exposure to AI and the broader tech bubble conversation, the sector is quietly picking up momentum. On top of that, the reshoring push bringing manufacturing back to the U.S. is starting to drive real demand for industrial properties. Retail, senior housing, hotels, and data centers are among the sectors seeing the strongest fundamentals right now, with demand outpacing supply across the board, making this a space worth watching closely in 2026.
So which REIT stocks are worth watching in 2026? Here’s a look at our 10 Cheap REITs with Huge Upside.
Photo by Owen Lystrup on Unsplash
Our Methodology
To identify relevant stocks for this article, we screened U.S.-listed real estate investment trusts with market capitalizations above $2 billion. We shortlisted REITs that were trading at a price-to-FFO (funds from operations) ratio below 15 and simultaneously offered a dividend yield above 3%. Also, we included only REITs with at least 15% upside potential according to TipRanks consensus as of the March 13 closing.
In the final part of our search, we selected 10 REITs with the highest upside and ranked them in ascending order.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 498.7% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 303 percentage points (see more details here).
10. Host Hotels & Resorts Inc. (NASDAQ:HST)
Host Hotels & Resorts Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) is one of the 10 cheap REITs with huge upside.
As of the March 13 closing, consensus sentiment for Host Hotels & Resorts Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) remained moderately bullish. The stock received coverage from 12 analysts, 6 of whom assigned Buy ratings and 6 gave Hold calls. With no Sell rating, it has a projected median 1-year price target of $21.36, which leads to an upside potential of more than 15%.
On February 27, Deutsche Bank increased its target price for Host Hotels & Resorts Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) from $26 to $27. The firm reiterated its Buy rating on the stock, which currently offers an adjusted upside potential of almost 46%.
On February 23, Bank of America Securities also increased the price target for Host Hotels & Resorts Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) to $22 from $20. The firm maintained a Buy rating on the stock, which yields a revised upside potential of almost 19% at the prevailing level. Bank of America Securities updated its forecasts following the company’s latest earnings report.
Earlier on February 19, Hotels & Resorts Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) announced its fourth-quarter results, reporting an adjusted FFO of 51 cents per share, outpacing the consensus forecast of 47 cents. The company President and CEO, James Risoleo, attributed this outperformance to the portfolio quality and successful execution of its strategy. Reflecting on the expansion of hotel revenue per available room (RevPAR), he stated:
“Our strong fourth quarter and full year 2025 results underscore the success of our strategy and the quality of our portfolio. We delivered comparable hotel Total RevPAR growth of 5.4% over the fourth quarter of 2024, and full year growth of 4.2%, reflecting increased transient demand and improvements in food and beverage revenues and ancillary spending. Comparable hotel RevPAR increased 4.6% for the quarter and 3.8% for the full year due to higher rates across the portfolio.”
Host Hotels & Resorts Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) is a self-managed REIT that focuses on lodging services. It owns and operates various luxury and upscale hotel properties. The company also partners with major hotel brands, including Marriott, with the aim of targeting markets that contain high barriers to entry.
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