Shortly after Anadarko (APC) agreed to be acquired by Chevron (CVX), Occidental Petroleum (OXY) offered $38 billion to buy Anadarko in a deal valued 20% higher than Chevron's agreement. Oxy has now made a total of three acquisition proposals to Anadarko since late March, and each was higher than the deal announced with Chevron on April 12, according to a letter written by the company to Anadarko.  For whatever reason, Anadarko appears to prefer teaming up with Chevron and even agreed to pay the company a break up fee of $1 billion (about $2 per share) if their deal were to fall through. However, Oxy's significantly higher offer could finally be enough to sway Anadarko's board.

Given the historically low nature of interest rates, many income investors have flocked to high-yield industries like mortgage REITs, or mREITs. Apollo Commercial Real Estate (ARI) is one popular mREIT, thanks to its 10% dividend yield.However, while this stock might be an acceptable choice for higher risk investors during a strong economy, it isn't a great choice for conservative income investors who seek stable income throughout the entire economic cycle, including during recessions. Let's take a closer look at why that appears to be the case. 

W.P. Carey (WPC) was founded in 1973 by Bill Carey, who helped to pioneer the triple net lease and sale-leaseback REIT business model. W.P. Carey went public in 1998 as a master limited partnership but converted to a REIT in 2012.Today the REIT owns over 1,100 properties located in 25 countries around the world. W.P. Carey's portfolio is broadly diversified across tenants (over 300, none greater than 4% of rent), industries (over 25), property types (industrial, office, retail, storage), and geographies (37% of sales are outside of the U.S., primarily in Western and Northern Europe).

STORE Capital (which stands for Single Tenant Operational Real Estate) is a relatively new triple-net lease REIT, having gone public in 2014. However, the company is led by an experienced management team that previously built three successful triple net lease REITs (FFCA, Spirit Finance, STORE Holding) and has invested over $17 billion in more than 9,600 properties.STORE owns over 2,200 properties leased under long-term contracts (average remaining lease duration is 14 years) to more than 400 companies operating across roughly 100 industries. The REIT mostly serves middle market businesses, with its median tenant generating just over $50 million in annual revenue.