Critical Review: Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD) & Easterly Government Properties (NYSE:DEA)

Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD) and Easterly Government Properties (NYSE:DEA) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Americold Realty Trust and Easterly Government Properties, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Americold Realty Trust	4	10	3	0	1.94
Easterly Government Properties	1	3	1	0	2.00

Americold Realty Trust currently has a consensus target price of $14.93, suggesting a potential upside of 1.39%. Easterly Government Properties has a consensus target price of $23.49, suggesting a potential downside of 1.59%. Given Americold Realty Trust’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Americold Realty Trust is more favorable than Easterly Government Properties.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

98.1% of Americold Realty Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.5% of Easterly Government Properties shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of Americold Realty Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.5% of Easterly Government Properties shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Americold Realty Trust and Easterly Government Properties’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Americold Realty Trust	-4.29%	-3.73%	-1.38%
Easterly Government Properties	3.22%	0.82%	0.33%

Risk and Volatility

Americold Realty Trust has a beta of 0.97, indicating that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Easterly Government Properties has a beta of 0.98, indicating that its stock price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Americold Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.2%. Easterly Government Properties pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.5%. Americold Realty Trust pays out -235.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Easterly Government Properties pays out 750.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Americold Realty Trust has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Americold Realty Trust and Easterly Government Properties”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Americold Realty Trust	$2.60 billion	1.61	-$114.55 million	($0.39)	-37.77
Easterly Government Properties	$348.97 million	3.18	$13.00 million	$0.24	99.46

Easterly Government Properties has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Americold Realty Trust. Americold Realty Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Easterly Government Properties, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Easterly Government Properties beats Americold Realty Trust on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Americold Realty Trust

Americold Realty Trust, Inc. is a real estate investment trust, which focuses on the ownership, operation, development, and acquisition of temperature-controlled warehouses. It operates through the following segments: Warehouse, Third-Party Managed, Transportation, and Other. The Warehouse segment collects rent and storage fees from customers to store frozen and perishable food and other products within the firm’s real estate portfolio. The Third-Party Managed segment manages warehouses on behalf of third parties and provides warehouse management services to food retailers and manufacturers in customer-owned facilities. The Transportation segment is involved in brokering and managing transportation of frozen and perishable food and other products. The Other segment includes ownership in a limestone quarry in Carthage, Missouri. The company was founded in 1931 and is headquartered in Atlanta, GA.

About Easterly Government Properties

Easterly Government Properties, Inc. (NYSE: DEA) is based in Washington, D.C., and focuses primarily on the acquisition, development and management of Class A commercial properties that are leased to the U.S. Government. Easterly’s experienced management team brings specialized insight into the strategy and needs of mission-critical U.S. Government agencies for properties leased to such agencies either directly or through the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA).