<p>Corporate liquidity management helps to balance firms’ financial flexibility against rising levels of economic crisis. This study analyzed the effects of cash holdings on corporations’ financial performance and stock returns in United States Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). The research covered panel data from 160 REIT companies from the years 2000 to 2021, which contains both the 2008 financial crisis and the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. Using these data and various economic models such as fixed effects, random effects, and pooled OLS models, this research assesses the firm’s optimal cash level and how deviation from this level influences profitability and market valuation. The study found that a firm’s profitability and stock performance were negatively affected when the firm deviated from the optimal cash level. The results from this study revealed that stronger stock performance was found in firms with financial stability in the pre-crisis period; in contrast, it produced negative outcomes in the financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. In crisis situations, the REIT’s companies experienced financial sensitivity due to unbalanced liquidity management. In addition, the asset efficiency improved slightly, and equity returns improved greatly during COVID-19, highlighting that firms maintaining adequate liquidity will remain resilient even in crisis periods. The overall findings suggested the non-linear associations between cash holdings and firm outcomes. In this context, this research contributes to developing stable liquidity management frameworks for highly regulated industries.</p>