Corporacion Inmobiliaria Vesta (NYSE:VTMX) versus CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP) Critical Survey

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP) and Corporacion Inmobiliaria Vesta (NYSE:VTMX) are both real estate companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, risk and profitability.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares CoStar Group and Corporacion Inmobiliaria Vesta”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CoStar Group	$3.56 billion	3.47	$7.00 million	$0.19	160.32
Corporacion Inmobiliaria Vesta	$304.13 million	9.35	$241.90 million	$4.60	7.30

Corporacion Inmobiliaria Vesta has lower revenue, but higher earnings than CoStar Group. Corporacion Inmobiliaria Vesta is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CoStar Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for CoStar Group and Corporacion Inmobiliaria Vesta, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CoStar Group	2	9	9	0	2.35
Corporacion Inmobiliaria Vesta	0	3	2	0	2.40

CoStar Group presently has a consensus price target of $40.11, suggesting a potential upside of 31.67%. Corporacion Inmobiliaria Vesta has a consensus price target of $42.00, suggesting a potential upside of 25.02%. Given CoStar Group’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe CoStar Group is more favorable than Corporacion Inmobiliaria Vesta.

Volatility and Risk

CoStar Group has a beta of 0.75, suggesting that its stock price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Corporacion Inmobiliaria Vesta has a beta of 0.64, suggesting that its stock price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares CoStar Group and Corporacion Inmobiliaria Vesta’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CoStar Group	2.08%	3.74%	2.96%
Corporacion Inmobiliaria Vesta	132.22%	14.20%	8.70%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

96.6% of CoStar Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 6.6% of Corporacion Inmobiliaria Vesta shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.2% of CoStar Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

About CoStar Group

CoStar Group, Inc. provides information, analytics, and online marketplace services to the commercial real estate, hospitality, residential, and related professionals industries in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Asia Pacific, and Latin America. The company offers CoStar Property that provides inventory of office, industrial, retail, multifamily, hospitality, and student housing properties and land; CoStar Sales, a robust database of comparable commercial real estate sales transactions; CoStar Market Analytics to view and report on aggregated market and submarket trends; and CoStar Tenant, an online business-to-business prospecting and analytical tool that provides tenant information. It also provides Leasing, a tool to capture, manage, and maintain lease data; CoStar Lease Analysis; Public Record, a searchable database of commercially zoned parcels; CoStar Real Estate Manager, a real estate lease administration, portfolio management, and lease accounting compliance software solution; and CoStar Risk Analytics and CoStar Investment. In addition, it offers apartment marketing sites, such as ApartmentFinder.com, ForRent.com, ApartmentHomeLiving.com, WestsideRentals.com, AFTER55.com, CorporateHousing.com, ForRentUniversity.com, Apartamentos.com, and Off Campus Partners; LoopNet Premium Lister; LoopNet Diamond, Platinum, and Gold Ads; LandsofAmerica.com, LandAndFarm.com, and LandWatch.com for rural land for-sale; BizBuySell.com, BizQuest.com, and FindaFranchise.com for operating businesses and franchises for-sale; Ten-X, an online auction platform for commercial real estate; and HomeSnap, an online and mobile software platform, as well as Homes.com, a homes for sale listings site. The company was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Washington, the District of Columbia.

About Corporacion Inmobiliaria Vesta

Corporación Inmobiliaria Vesta, S.A.B. de C.V., together with its subsidiaries, acquires, develops, manages, operates, and leases industrial buildings and distribution facilities in Mexico. The company was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico.