Comparing SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC) & Safehold (NYSE:SAFE)

Safehold (NYSE:SAFE) and SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC) are both real estate companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, dividends and profitability.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Safehold 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
Safehold	$385.55 million	2.84	$114.47 million	$1.62	9.53
SBA Communications	$2.87 billion	6.87	$1.05 billion	$9.28	20.02

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Safehold	27.70%	4.76%	1.62%
SBA Communications	34.51%	-20.67%	8.56%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Safehold and SBA Communications, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Safehold	1	6	2	0	2.11
SBA Communications	0	9	8	0	2.47

Safehold presently has a consensus price target of $17.17, indicating a potential upside of 11.15%. SBA Communications has a consensus price target of $228.12, indicating a potential upside of 22.77%. Given SBA Communications’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe SBA Communications is more favorable than Safehold.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

70.4% of Safehold shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.3% of SBA Communications shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.8% of Safehold shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.5% of SBA Communications shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Safehold has a beta of 1.75, suggesting that its stock price is 75% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SBA Communications has a beta of 0.99, suggesting that its stock price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Safehold pays an annual dividend of $0.71 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.6%. SBA Communications pays an annual dividend of $5.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Safehold pays out 43.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. SBA Communications pays out 53.9% 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. Safehold has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years and SBA Communications has increased its dividend for 6 consecutive years. Safehold is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

SBA Communications beats Safehold on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Safehold

Safehold Inc. (NYSE: SAFE) is revolutionizing real estate ownership by providing a new and better way for owners to unlock the value of the land beneath their buildings. Having created the modern ground lease industry in 2017, Safehold continues to help owners of high quality multifamily, office, industrial, hospitality, student housing, life science and mixed-use properties generate higher returns with less risk. The Company, which is taxed as a real estate investment trust (REIT), seeks to deliver safe, growing income and long-term capital appreciation to its shareholders.

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.