Are This REIT's Fundamentals Overlooked?

National Retail Properties, Inc. (NYSE:NNN) is a real estate investment trust, or REIT, that invests primarily in properties that are subject to long-term net leases. National Retail Properties currently owns 3,161 properties in 48 U.S. states with a gross leasable area of approximately 32.7 million square feet and with a weighted average remaining lease term of 10.6 years.

The REIT is up almost 15% in 2021, scoring an annual high of $49 on May 10. NNN also provides a forward dividend of $2.08 and a dividend yield of 4.49%. National Retail Properties has increased its annual dividend for 31 consecutive years. Furthermore, NNN shareholders have enjoyed a 25-year average annual total return of 12.1%.

As for NNN's quarterly earnings performance over the past year, National Retail Properties has missed earnings expectations four times in a row, but the last three post-earnings reactions have been positive, including a 4.3% pop back in November. Overall though, NNN averages a quiet post-earnings move of 2.1% the last eight quarters, regardless of direction.

Digging more into National Retail Properties stock's fundamentals, the company doesn’t have a whole lot to offer as a growth or value play. National Retail Properties stock has an inflated price-earnings ratio of 39.79 and a high estimated forward price-earnings ratio of 30.49. In addition, NNN earnings growth has remained inconsistent over the past few years, which isn’t helped by National Retail Properties' relatively slow revenue growth. NNN also carries $3.32 billion in total debt on their balance sheet and only $311.23 million in cash. In general, National Retail Properties stock is best suited for long-term dividend investors, given NNN’s high dividend yield at the moment and its long history of dividend growth.