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Ackman offers Howard Hughes Corp as underappreciated play on planned communities
William Ackman, CEO and portfolio manager of Pershing Square Capital, laid out his bull thesis on Howard Hughes Corp (HHC) at the 2017 Sohn Investment Conference. Beginning his presentation with a look at successful real estate developer Donald Bren, Ackman offered Howard Hughes as a way to achieve similar success in so-called master-planned communities. The company owns a diversified collection of "some of the best" MPCs in the country, which it acquired not as a first owner but as a third or fourth, benefitting from significant capital outlays from prior owners. While cautioning that Howard Hughes is "difficult to value" because of its complexity and long-term asset holdings, Ackman argued that this is "one of the most attractive times in the history of the company to invest," as it trades at a huge discount to underlying asset value and is progressing through 37M square feet of future development, on which Ackman expects it to earn a "high return." PRICE ACTION: Shares of Howard Hughes Corp are up 4.14% following Ackman's presentation