Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD) vs. Prologis (NYSE:PLD) Critical Comparison

Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD) and Prologis (NYSE:PLD) are both real estate companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings and profitability.

Dividends

Americold Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.5%. Prologis pays an annual dividend of $4.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Americold Realty Trust pays out -57.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Prologis pays out 95.3% 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 increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years and Prologis has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years. Americold Realty Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Volatility and Risk

Americold Realty Trust has a beta of 0.98, suggesting that its stock price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Prologis has a beta of 1.3, suggesting that its stock price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Americold Realty Trust and Prologis”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	1.56	-$114.55 million	($1.59)	-8.95
Prologis	$8.79 billion	14.59	$3.33 billion	$4.49	30.61

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

98.1% of Americold Realty Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.5% of Prologis shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of Americold Realty Trust shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Prologis shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Americold Realty Trust	-17.44%	-16.14%	-5.68%
Prologis	45.79%	7.29%	4.25%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Americold Realty Trust and Prologis, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Americold Realty Trust	3	9	4	0	2.06
Prologis	0	7	16	0	2.70

Americold Realty Trust currently has a consensus price target of $15.63, suggesting a potential upside of 9.86%. Prologis has a consensus price target of $154.52, suggesting a potential upside of 12.45%. Given Prologis’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Prologis is more favorable than Americold Realty Trust.

Summary

Prologis beats Americold Realty Trust on 14 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 Prologis

Prologis, Inc. is the global leader in logistics real estate with a focus on high-barrier, high-growth markets. At March 31, 2024, the company owned or had investments in, on a wholly owned basis or through co-investment ventures, properties and development projects expected to total approximately 1.2 billion square feet (115 million square meters) in 19 countries. Prologis leases modern logistics facilities to a diverse base of approximately 6,700 customers principally across two major categories: business-to-business and retail/online fulfillment.