REIT Tagged 'Bear of the Day'

Zacks Equity Research, Chicago, announced March 2 that Liberty Property Trust, Malvern, Pa., had been designated its "Bear of the Day," a stock expected to underperform the markets over the next three to six months.Zacks said the commercial real estate investment trust is focusing on development that "could prove beneficial down the road" but that won't add to near-term earnings. "We expect continued earnings dilution," with "little to zero" growth in funds from operations in 2007, Zacks said. "We find this troubling, as office and industrial real estate fundamentals continue to improve across the country," the research firm said. Zacks can be found online at http://www.zacks.com, and Liberty Property Trust can be found at http://www.libertyproperty.com.