How to create a list of industry stocks

— -- Q: How can I create a list of all the real estate companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange?

A: Some investors are hoping the blood bath in real estate has created huge opportunities.

And certainly, there have been troubles with commercial real estate. But the bright side is that REITs typically pay attractive dividend yields to investors patient enough to wait for the companies to recover.

And that brings us to your question. The easy way to invest in REITs is by buying exchange-traded funds or mutual funds that own them. But you can also, as you suggest, try to identify individual REITs that may have the characteristics you seek.

MSN Money provides a free screening tool that helps you do this. Go to moneycentral.msn.com, scroll down a bit and click on the Stock Research link on the left-hand side of the page under the Investing label. Scroll down again and click on the Stock Screener link on the left-hand side of the page below where it says Find Stocks.

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If it's the first time you've used Stock Screener, you may need to install a small program called an Active X control. It's worth the trouble, because MSN Money is a powerful screening tool that can do what you're asking and more.

Once you get everything set up, you'll see a search screen that resembles a spreadsheet. Click on the blank under where it says Field Name and choose Company Basics, then choose Exchange. Next, change the Operator field to an equal sign. Then, change the value column to NYSE. That tells MSN Money you want to limit your search to only stocks in the New York Stock Exchange.

Click on the next blank under the field name column heading and chose Company Basics, then choose Industry name. Shift to the right and change the operator to an equal sign. Then, choose the blank field under the value and choose Real Estate. You can now search for many types of REITs, including those that are diversified or focus on certain types of property, such as industrial or residential.