Financial Comparison: Clipper Realty (NYSE:CLPR) versus SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC)

Clipper Realty (NYSE:CLPR) and SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Dividends

Clipper Realty pays an annual dividend of $0.38 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.2%. SBA Communications pays an annual dividend of $4.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Clipper Realty pays out -36.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. SBA Communications pays out 57.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. SBA Communications has increased its dividend for 6 consecutive years. Clipper Realty is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Volatility and Risk

Clipper Realty has a beta of 1.04, indicating that its share price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SBA Communications has a beta of 0.8, indicating that its share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

37.6% of Clipper Realty shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.3% of SBA Communications shares are owned by institutional investors. 53.0% of Clipper Realty shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of SBA Communications shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Clipper Realty and SBA Communications, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Clipper Realty	0	1	0	0	2.00
SBA Communications	0	8	8	2	2.67

SBA Communications has a consensus target price of $238.69, suggesting a potential upside of 20.92%. Given SBA Communications’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe SBA Communications is more favorable than Clipper Realty.

Profitability

This table compares Clipper Realty and SBA Communications’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Clipper Realty	-9.53%	N/A	-1.16%
SBA Communications	31.19%	-16.83%	7.94%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Clipper Realty and SBA Communications”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Clipper Realty	$154.10 million	0.39	-$2.50 million	($1.03)	-3.63
SBA Communications	$2.79 billion	7.60	$749.54 million	$7.67	25.74

SBA Communications has higher revenue and earnings than Clipper Realty. Clipper Realty is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than SBA Communications, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

SBA Communications beats Clipper Realty on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Clipper Realty

Clipper Realty Inc. (NYSE: CLPR) is a self-administered and self-managed real estate company that acquires, owns, manages, operates, and repositions multifamily residential and commercial properties in the New York metropolitan area, with a portfolio in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

About SBA Communications

SBA Communications Corporation is a leading independent owner and operator of wireless communications infrastructure including towers, buildings, rooftops, distributed antenna systems (DAS) and small cells. With a portfolio of more than 39,000 communications sites throughout the Americas, Africa and in Asia, SBA is listed on NASDAQ under the symbol SBAC. Our organization is part of the S&P 500 and is one of the top Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) by market capitalization.