Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN – Get Free Report) and Peakstone Realty Trust (NYSE:PKST – Get Free Report) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, risk and earnings.
Dividends
Ellington Credit pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 14.5%. Peakstone Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.90 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.0%. Ellington Credit pays out 85.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Peakstone Realty Trust pays out -76.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.
Volatility & Risk
Ellington Credit has a beta of 1.86, suggesting that its share price is 86% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Peakstone Realty Trust has a beta of 2.59, suggesting that its share price is 159% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Ratings
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Ellington Credit | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.00 |
| Peakstone Realty Trust | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3.00 |
Peakstone Realty Trust has a consensus target price of $15.00, suggesting a potential upside of 32.98%. Given Peakstone Realty Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Peakstone Realty Trust is more favorable than Ellington Credit.
Profitability
This table compares Ellington Credit and Peakstone Realty Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Ellington Credit | 226.01% | 15.81% | 2.71% |
| Peakstone Realty Trust | -18.26% | -3.61% | -1.59% |
Institutional and Insider Ownership
20.4% of Ellington Credit shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 39.0% of Peakstone Realty Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 1.6% of Ellington Credit shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Peakstone Realty Trust shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Ellington Credit and Peakstone Realty Trust”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Ellington Credit | $42.55 million | 4.53 | $4.56 million | $1.12 | 5.90 |
| Peakstone Realty Trust | $254.28 million | 1.61 | -$550.58 million | ($1.18) | -9.56 |
Ellington Credit has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Peakstone Realty Trust. Peakstone Realty Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ellington Credit, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Ellington Credit beats Peakstone Realty Trust on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Ellington Credit
Ellington Credit Company, a real estate investment trust, acquires, invests in, and manages residential mortgage-and real estate-related assets. It acquires and manages residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS), including agency pools and agency collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs); and non-agency RMBS, such as non-agency CMOs, such as investment grade and non-investment grade. The company has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust. As a result, it would not be subject to corporate income tax on that portion of its net income that is distributed to shareholders. The company was formerly known as Ellington Residential Mortgage REIT and changed its name to Ellington Credit Company in April 2024. Ellington Credit Company was incorporated in 2012 and is based in Old Greenwich, Connecticut.
About Peakstone Realty Trust
Peakstone Realty Trust (NYSE: PKST) is an internally managed, real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns and operates a high-quality, newer-vintage portfolio of predominantly single-tenant industrial and office properties. These assets are generally leased to creditworthy tenants under long-term net lease agreements with contractual rent escalations. As of March 31, 2023, Peakstone's wholly-owned portfolio consists of 19 million square feet across 24 states in primarily high-growth, strategic coastal and sunbelt markets.
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