Why Cousins Properties Stock Could Be a Smart Long-Term Buy

Cousins Properties’ CUZ high-quality office portfolio, impressive tenant roster, opportunistic investments in the best sub-markets and strong balance sheet aid the growth momentum.

Last month, this office real estate investment trust (REIT) reported third-quarter 2025 funds from operations (FFO) per share of 69 cents, in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The figure increased 3% on a year-over-year basis.

Results reflected healthy leasing activity in the quarter. However, the weighted average occupancy decreased, while interest expenses increased and marred the growth tempo. CUZ also raised its 2025 FFO per-share outlook.

Analysts seem positive about this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CUZ’s 2025 funds from operations (FFO) per share has moved 1 cent northward over the past two months to $2.83.

Factors That Make Cousins Properties Stock a Solid Pick

Solid Portfolio and Diversified Tenant Base: Cousins Properties has an unmatched portfolio of Class A office assets concentrated in the high-growth Sun Belt markets. This region is experiencing a population influx. Amid favorable migration trends and a pro-business environment, corporate relocations and expansions in the Sun Belt markets have gained pace, and this is driving the demand for office space.

During the third quarter of 2025, the second-generation net rent per square foot on a cash basis climbed 4.2%. Moreover, the company has a well-diversified, high-end tenant roster with less dependence on a single industry. This enables it to enjoy steady revenues over different economic cycles.

Healthy Leasing Activity: Cousins Properties is seeing a recovery in demand for its high-quality, well-placed office properties, as highlighted by a rebound in new leasing volume. For the first nine months of 2025, the company executed 128 leases for a total of 1.4 million square feet of office space with a weighted average lease term of 7.9 years. This included 489,932 square feet of new leases.

Going forward, with the continuation of inbound migration and significant investments being announced by office occupiers to expand the footprint in the Sun Belt regions, Cousins Properties’ leading trophy portfolio of class A and highly amenitized office realties across the region is well-positioned to reap benefits.

Capital-Recycling Efforts: Cousins Properties’ capital-recycling moves to enhance its portfolio quality with trophy asset acquisitions seem encouraging for long-term growth. In July 2025, the company acquired The Link — a 292,000-square-foot lifestyle office property in Uptown Dallas — for $218.0 million.

Moreover, timely dispositions have helped CUZ shed slow-growth assets from its portfolio and redeploy the proceeds for developing and acquiring highly differentiated amenitized properties in the Sun Belt submarkets.

Balance Sheet Strength: Cousins Properties focuses on maintaining a robust balance sheet, with ample liquidity to capitalize on improving market fundamentals. Its debt maturity schedule is well-laddered to efficiently access the unsecured bond market. The company exited the third quarter of 2025 with cash and cash equivalents of $467.5 million. As of Sept. 30, 2025, Cousins Properties had $83.7 million drawn under its credit facility, with the ability to borrow the remaining $916.3 million. Thus, with considerable liquidity and access to capital markets, it enjoys ample flexibility to pursue compelling growth opportunities.

However, shares of the company have declined 5.8% over the past three months, compared to the industry’s growth of 3.5%.

Other Stocks to Consider

Some other top-ranked stocks from the broader REIT sector are Digital Realty Trust DLR and W.P. Carey WPC, 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 DLR’s 2025 FFO per share is pegged at $7.35, which indicates year-over-year growth of 9.5%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for WPC’s full-year FFO per share is pinned at $4.92, which calls for an increase of 4.7% from the year-ago period.

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

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