Contrasting Universal Health Realty Income Trust (NYSE:UHT) and Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR)

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) and Universal Health Realty Income Trust (NYSE:UHT) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Lamar Advertising and Universal Health Realty Income Trust, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lamar Advertising	0	3	3	0	2.50
Universal Health Realty Income Trust	0	1	0	0	2.00

Lamar Advertising presently has a consensus price target of $134.20, suggesting a potential upside of 6.21%. Given Lamar Advertising’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Lamar Advertising is more favorable than Universal Health Realty Income Trust.

Dividends

Lamar Advertising pays an annual dividend of $6.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.9%. Universal Health Realty Income Trust pays an annual dividend of $2.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.6%. Lamar Advertising pays out 145.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Universal Health Realty Income Trust pays out 229.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Lamar Advertising has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years and Universal Health Realty Income Trust has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Lamar Advertising and Universal Health Realty Income Trust”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lamar Advertising	$2.25 billion	5.68	$361.87 million	$4.26	29.66
Universal Health Realty Income Trust	$99.36 million	5.42	$19.23 million	$1.29	30.08

Lamar Advertising has higher revenue and earnings than Universal Health Realty Income Trust. Lamar Advertising is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Universal Health Realty Income Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Lamar Advertising and Universal Health Realty Income Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lamar Advertising	19.72%	41.85%	6.68%
Universal Health Realty Income Trust	18.06%	10.63%	3.13%

Volatility & Risk

Lamar Advertising has a beta of 1.36, indicating that its stock price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Universal Health Realty Income Trust has a beta of 0.97, indicating that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

93.8% of Lamar Advertising shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 64.7% of Universal Health Realty Income Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 15.0% of Lamar Advertising shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.2% of Universal Health Realty Income Trust shares are owned 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.

Summary

Lamar Advertising beats Universal Health Realty Income Trust on 15 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lamar Advertising

Lamar Advertising Company operates as an outdoor advertising company in the United States and Canada. The company owns and operates billboards, logo signs, and transit advertising displays, as well as rents space for advertising on billboards, buses, shelters, benches, logo plates, and in airport terminals. Lamar Advertising Company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

About Universal Health Realty Income Trust

Universal Health Realty Income Trust, a real estate investment trust, invests in healthcare and human-service related facilities including acute care hospitals, behavioral health care hospitals, specialty facilities, medical/office buildings, free-standing emergency departments and childcare centers. We have investments or commitments in seventy-six properties located in twenty-one states.