Cousins Properties Inc.’s (CUZ) MACD indicator has moved into bearish territory with a reading of -0.1255. The Zacks #5 Rank (“Strong Sell) stock fell slightly to $7.53 in morning trade. The Zacks Consensus Estimate on the company’s full-year earnings has reduced by 32 cents over the past month and is currently pegged at 34 cents per share. Moreover, the most accurate estimate is even bearish at 12 cents per share."CUZ" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?Zacks Investment Research

Cousins Properties Inc.’s (CUZ) MACD indicator has moved into bearish territory with a reading of -0.0025. The Zacks #5 Rank (“Strong Sell) stock has declined slightly to $9.94 in morning trade. The Zacks Consensus Estimate on the company’s full-year earnings is currently pegged at 34 cents per share, which reduced by 14 cents over the past week."CUZ" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?Zacks Investment Research

Cousins Properties Inc.’s (CUZ) MACD indicator has crossed over to bearish territory with a reading of -0.0203. The Zacks #5 Rank (“Strong Sell") stock fell more than 3% to $7.95 in morning trade. The full-year Zacks Consensus Estimate has moved down 14 cents over the past week to 34 cents per share."CUZ" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?Zacks Investment Research

Cousins Properties Inc. (CUZ), a leading real estate investment trust (REIT), recently announced the layoff of 10% of its corporate staff to reduce costs amid the continued economic downturn.   Fundamentals are declining in many of the company’s office markets as corporate expansion continues to slow. More and more corporations are putting off leasing decisions until the economy recovers, which is not expected to happen in the next couple of quarters.   Recent employment trends are also not encouraging as the U.S. economy continues to shed jobs at a rapid pace. Till date, the U.S. lost about 6.7 million jobs since the start of recession in December 2007. The national unemployment rate also surged to 9.4%. As the U.S. economy plunges deeper into recession, office owners will have trouble holding tenants and leasing new space.   Furthermore, most of Cousins’ office markets are seeing large jumps in office vacancies.

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Cousins Properties Inc.’s (CUZ) MACD indicator has entered into bearish territory with a reading of -0.1012. The Zacks #5 Rank (“Strong Sell") stock has declined more than 2% to $7.58 in afternoon trade. The full-year Zacks Consensus Estimate is currently pegged at 91 cents per share, which has reduced by 7 cents over the past month."CUZ" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?Zacks Investment Research

According to a report released by Reis Inc., a leading real estate research firm, the US office market vacancy rate has surged to 15.9% in the second quarter of 2009 – the highest in four years. With deteriorating demand for office space, rent decreased by 2.7% during the quarter – the largest plunge in seven years.

Most real estate companies were forced to lower rents to attract and keep tenants. In addition, tenants are demanding more concessions in the form of free rent and capital improvements.

During the quarter, asking rent in the office segment decreased 1.4% to $28.43 per square foot. Taking into account the rent-free months and improvement costs to landlords, effective rents or net cash received as rent decreased 2.7% in the quarter to $23.42 per square foot. Consequently, with decreasing cash flows the risk of loan defaults has increased considerably in the office segment.

According

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Acergy SA (ACGY) Adobe Systems Inc (ADBE) Belden Inc (BDC) Black Hills Corp (BKH) Cousins Properties Inc (CUZ) CryptoLogic Ltd (CRYP) Delphi Financial Group Inc (DFG) Eastman Chemical Co (EMN) Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Nort (OMAB) Harbin Electric Inc (HRBN) Kimco Realty Corp (KIM) M&T Bank Corp (MTB) Main Street Capital Corp (MAIN) Patni Computer Systems Ltd (PTI) Porter Bancorp Inc (PBIB) RPM International Inc (RPM) Ryder System Inc (R) Vornado Realty Trust (VNO) Whiting USA Trust I (WHX) Yingli Green Energy Holding Co Ltd (YGE) View the entire Zacks #5 Rank List.

Zacks Investment Research

Atlanta, GA-based Cousins Properties, Inc. (CUZ) is a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) involved in the acquisition, financing, development, management, and leasing of office, retail and industrial properties. CUZ controls properties throughout the US, including Atlanta, Charlotte, Austin, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington, DC.

We maintain our Sell rating due to macroeconomic factors. Job growth and consumer spending continue to plummet along with the US economy. CUZ has a heavy concentration of office assets in Atlanta, a market with increasing downtown and suburban office vacancies. The company also has a large development pipeline with lease-up risk from new retail projects.

To conserve cash, the company cuts its 4Q dividend by 32%. On a P/FFO [price-to-funds from operations] basis, the company is valued at an unwarranted premium to office and retail peers. On a positive note, the company has low 2009 debt maturities and plenty of cash and availability on its

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