Reviewing Gabelli Equity Trust (NYSE:GAB) and Elme Communities (NYSE:ELME)

Elme Communities (NYSE:ELME) and Gabelli Equity Trust (NYSE:GAB) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and risk.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

87.9% of Elme Communities shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 7.2% of Gabelli Equity Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 1.4% of Elme Communities shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Gabelli Equity Trust shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Elme Communities and Gabelli Equity Trust, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Elme Communities	1	3	0	0	1.75
Gabelli Equity Trust	0	0	0	0	0.00

Elme Communities presently has a consensus price target of $18.00, suggesting a potential upside of 974.63%. Given Elme Communities’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Elme Communities is more favorable than Gabelli Equity Trust.

Profitability

This table compares Elme Communities and Gabelli Equity Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Elme Communities	-74.71%	-20.43%	-8.29%
Gabelli Equity Trust	N/A	N/A	N/A

Risk & Volatility

Elme Communities has a beta of 0.72, suggesting that its stock price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Gabelli Equity Trust has a beta of 0.69, suggesting that its stock price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Elme Communities pays an annual dividend of $0.18 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.7%. Gabelli Equity Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.6%. Elme Communities pays out -11.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Elme Communities and Gabelli Equity Trust”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Elme Communities	$206.36 million	0.72	-$154.16 million	($1.52)	-1.10
Gabelli Equity Trust	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Gabelli Equity Trust has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Elme Communities.

Summary

Elme Communities beats Gabelli Equity Trust on 8 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Elme Communities

Elme Communities is committed to elevating what home can be for middle-income renters by providing a higher level of quality, service, and experience. The Company is a multifamily real estate investment trust that owns and operates approximately 9,400 apartment homes in the Washington, DC metro and the Atlanta metro regions, and owns approximately 300,000 square feet of commercial space. Focused on providing quality, affordable homes to a deep, solid, and underserved base of mid-market demand, Elme Communities is building long-term value for shareholders.

About Gabelli Equity Trust

The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc. is a closed ended equity mutual fund launched by GAMCO Investors, Inc. The fund is managed by Gabelli Funds, LLC. It invests in public equity markets of the United States. The fund seeks to invest in stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors. It invests in preferred stock, convertible or exchangeable securities, and warrants and rights. The fund primarily invests in value stocks of companies across market capitalizations. It employs fundamental analysis with a bottom-up stock picking approach to create its portfolio. The fund seeks to benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against the S&P 500 Index, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and Nasdaq Composite Index. The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc. was formed on August 21, 1986 and is domiciled in the United States.