Research · Sep 3, 2026
[HIW] Highwoods Properties Thesis 2026: Sun-Belt Class-A Office REIT Compounder
Highwoods Properties (NYSE: HIW), headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, is a Sun-Belt-Office-REIT-Atlanta-Charlotte-Nashville-Raleigh-Tampa + emerging-multi-cycle-Sun-Belt-Office-Cycle-Recovery-and-Class-A-Office leader providing distinctive multi-cycle Atlanta + emerging-Charlotte + emerging-Nashville + emerging-Raleigh-Research-Triangle + emerging-Tampa + emerging-Orlando + emerging-Memphis services to substantial multi-cycle US-Sun-Belt-Class-A-Office-Tenant + multi-cycle-emerging-Fortune-500-and-Investment-Grade-Tenant + multi-cycle-emerging-Healthcare + multi-cycle-emerging-Financial-Services-and-Banking + multi-cycle-emerging-Tech-and-Software + multi-cycle-emerging-Professional-Services-Consulting-and-Law + multi-cycle-emerging-Education + multi-cycle-emerging-Government-Federal-and-State-and-Local + multi-cycle-emerging-Insurance customer base. The company has distinctive multi-cycle Highwoods-Properties-and-Raleigh-NC-and-Sun-Belt-Office-REIT heritage: founded 1978 as Highwoods-Properties-Founder-Ronald-Gibson; 1994 NYSE Highwoods-Properties-IPO; multi-cycle-substantial-Sun-Belt-Office-acquisitions; 2019-Ted-Klinck-CEO; 2024-substantial-Pittsburgh-divested; 2024-substantial-Class-A-Office-Atlanta-and-Nashville-acquisitions; multi-cycle-disciplined-Sun-Belt-Office-Cycle-Recovery-Capital-Recycling. FY2025 closes with selected various aggregate revenue ~$800-870M (~0-3% YoY-growth + emerging-multi-cycle-Sun-Belt-Office-Cycle-Recovery-and-Class-A-Office-Flight-to-Quality-growth), adjusted EBITDA ~$455-510M (~55-58% margins), AFFO-per-share ~$3.55-3.95 (~70-75% AFFO-payout), distributions-per-share ~$2.00-2.05 (~7.0-8.0% yield ~25+ year continuous), net debt ~$2.40-2.65B (~5.0-5.5x leverage), and ~107-110M shares outstanding under President & CEO Ted Klinck. The Sun-Belt-Class-A-Office-Atlanta-Charlotte-Nashville-Raleigh-Tampa franchise deep-dive covers distinctive multi-cycle ~310+ employees + ~~26-27M-square-foot-Sun-Belt-Class-A-Office-Portfolio across Sun-Belt (Raleigh-Research-Triangle-HQ + Atlanta + Charlotte + Nashville + Tampa + Orlando + Memphis), Sun-Belt-Class-A-Office ~95-98% revenue + Emerging-Mixed-Use-and-Land ~2-5% revenue, 2024-Pittsburgh-divested + 2024-Class-A-Office-Atlanta-and-Nashville-acquisitions transformational-platform, emerging-multi-cycle Sun-Belt-Demographic-In-Migration + emerging-multi-cycle-Atlanta-Charlotte-Nashville-Raleigh-Tampa + emerging-Sun-Belt-Office-Cycle-Recovery + emerging-Class-A-Office-Flight-to-Quality + emerging-Trophy-and-Lifestyle-Class-A-Office structural-tailwinds, competing in Sun-Belt-Office-REIT space with Cousins Properties, Piedmont Office Realty, Brandywine Realty, Hudson Pacific, Douglas Emmett, JBG Smith, Vornado, SL Green, Empire State Realty, Paramount Group, Boston Properties-BXP, Equity Commonwealth, Net Lease Office Properties/W.P.-Carey-spin-off, W.P. Carey, Office Properties Income Trust-DHC; Multi-Family-Sun-Belt Camden, Mid-America Apartment, AvalonBay, Equity Residential; Lab-Office Alexandria, Healthpeak/Physicians-Realty; Industrial Prologis, Rexford; and private-equity-Apollo-Carlyle-Bain-KKR-Blackstone-CDR-Veritas-Genstar-American-Securities-Stone-Point-Lovell-Minnick-Hellman-Friedman-Silver-Lake-TPG-Reverence-Warburg-Pincus-Ares-Brookfield-Starwood-Tishman-Speyer-I-Squared-Stonepeak-Macquarie-Ardian-GIC-Blue-Owl. The Ted-Klinck + multi-decade compounder thesis + 2024-Pittsburgh-Divested-and-Atlanta-Nashville-Acquisitions deep-dive covers Ted-Klinck-CEO (since 2019, ~25+ year longtime-Highwoods-veteran + COO-since-2015) expertise, 1978-Highwoods-Properties-Founder-Ronald-Gibson + 1994-NYSE-Highwoods-Properties-IPO + multi-cycle-Sun-Belt-Office-acquisitions + 2024-Pittsburgh-divested + 2024-Class-A-Office-Atlanta-and-Nashville-acquisitions transformational-platform, multi-cycle reliable-and-emerging-growing-distributions-REIT (~$2.00-2.05/yr, ~7.0-8.0% yield, ~25+ year continuous post-1994-IPO) + multi-cycle-emerging-share-buyback-only (~$25-100M/yr). Capital position is IG-equivalent (Baa3/BBB- to Baa2/BBB ~5.0-5.5x leverage). At ~$26-32 per share, equity value ~$2.80-3.50B, EV ~$5.20-6.15B, providing ~7-9x AFFO-per-share and ~11-14x EV/EBITDA.