Critical Survey: Howard Hughes (NYSE:HHH) versus Colliers International Group (NASDAQ:CIGI)

Howard Hughes (NYSE:HHH) and Colliers International Group (NASDAQ:CIGI) are both mid-cap real estate companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, risk and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Howard Hughes and Colliers International Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Howard Hughes	0	3	0	0	2.00
Colliers International Group	0	2	7	1	2.90

Howard Hughes currently has a consensus price target of $79.00, indicating a potential upside of 7.34%. Colliers International Group has a consensus price target of $154.62, indicating a potential upside of 78.55%. Given Colliers International Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Colliers International Group is more favorable than Howard Hughes.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Howard Hughes and Colliers International Group”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Howard Hughes	$1.47 billion	2.98	$123.90 million	$4.94	14.90
Colliers International Group	$5.96 billion	0.74	$103.10 million	$2.10	41.24

Howard Hughes has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Colliers International Group. Howard Hughes is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Colliers International Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Howard Hughes and Colliers International Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Howard Hughes	12.31%	7.51%	2.41%
Colliers International Group	1.81%	20.17%	4.28%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

93.8% of Howard Hughes shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.1% of Colliers International Group shares are held by institutional investors. 47.7% of Howard Hughes shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 15.3% of Colliers International Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Howard Hughes has a beta of 1.14, suggesting that its share price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Colliers International Group has a beta of 1.23, suggesting that its share price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Colliers International Group beats Howard Hughes on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Howard Hughes

Howard Hughes Holdings Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a real estate development company in the United States. It operates in four segments: Operating Assets; Master Planned Communities (MPCs); Seaport; and Strategic Developments. The Operating Assets segment consists of developed or acquired retail, office, and multi-family properties along with other retail investments. Its MPCs segment develops, sells, and leases residential and commercial land designated for long-term community development projects in and around Las Vegas, Nevada; Houston, Texas; and Phoenix, Arizona. The Seaport segment is involved in the landlord operations, managed businesses, and events and sponsorships services of its restaurant, retail, and entertain properties in Pier 17, New York City; Historic Area/Uplands; and Tin Building, as well as in 250 Water Street and in the Jean-Georges restaurants. The Strategic Development segment develops and redevelops residential condominiums and commercial properties. It serves homebuilders. Howard Hughes Holdings Inc. was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas.

About Colliers International Group

Colliers International Group Inc. provides commercial real estate professional and investment management services to corporate and institutional clients in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company offers outsourcing and advisory services, such as engineering and project management, property management, valuation, and other services, as well as loan servicing for commercial real estate clients. It also provides property management services comprising building operations and maintenance, facilities management, lease administration, property accounting and financial reporting, contract management, and construction management; and project management services, which include bid document review, construction monitoring and delivery management, contract administration and integrated cost control, development management, facility and engineering functionality, milestone and performance monitoring, quality assurance, risk management, and strategic project consulting. In addition, the company offers corporate and workplace solutions; occupier; workplace strategy; property marketing services; transaction brokerage services, including sales and leasing for corporations, financial institutions, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, governments, and individuals; and capital markets services for property sales, debt finance, mortgage investment banking services, as well as landlord and tenant representation services. Further, the company provides investment management services that consists of asset management and investor advisory services. Colliers International Group Inc. was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.