Head-To-Head Contrast: Terreno Realty (NYSE:TRNO) versus SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC)

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

Volatility and Risk

Terreno Realty has a beta of 1.06, indicating that its stock price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SBA Communications has a beta of 1.03, indicating that its stock price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Terreno Realty	86.44%	10.35%	7.98%
SBA Communications	35.66%	-20.90%	8.98%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

97.3% of SBA Communications shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.9% of Terreno Realty shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 9.5% of SBA Communications shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Terreno Realty and SBA Communications, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Terreno Realty	1	2	8	1	2.75
SBA Communications	0	9	8	1	2.56

Terreno Realty presently has a consensus price target of $69.57, indicating a potential upside of 5.84%. SBA Communications has a consensus price target of $237.22, indicating a potential upside of 16.77%. Given SBA Communications’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe SBA Communications is more favorable than Terreno Realty.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Terreno Realty and SBA Communications”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Terreno Realty	$476.38 million	14.67	$402.99 million	$4.09	16.07
SBA Communications	$2.85 billion	7.55	$1.05 billion	$9.50	21.39

SBA Communications has higher revenue and earnings than Terreno Realty. Terreno 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.

Dividends

Terreno Realty pays an annual dividend of $2.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. SBA Communications pays an annual dividend of $5.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Terreno Realty pays out 50.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. SBA Communications pays out 52.6% 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. Terreno Realty has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years and SBA Communications has raised its dividend for 6 consecutive years. Terreno Realty is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

SBA Communications beats Terreno Realty on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Terreno Realty

Terreno Realty Corporation (Terreno, and together with its subsidiaries, the Company) acquires, owns and operates industrial real estate in six major coastal U.S. markets: Los Angeles, Northern New Jersey/New York City, San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Miami, and Washington, D.C. All square feet, acres, occupancy and number of properties disclosed in these notes to the consolidated financial statements are unaudited. As of December 31, 2023, the Company owned 259 buildings aggregating approximately 16.0 million square feet, 45 improved land parcels consisting of approximately 152.4 acres, seven properties under development or redevelopment and approximately 62.7 acres of land entitled for future development. The Company is an internally managed Maryland corporation and elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust (REIT) under Sections 856 through 860 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the Code), commencing with its taxable year ended December 31, 2010.

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.