Critical Contrast: Kennedy-Wilson (NYSE:KW) vs. Boston Omaha (NYSE:BOC)

Kennedy-Wilson (NYSE:KW) and Boston Omaha (NYSE:BOC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Volatility & Risk

Kennedy-Wilson has a beta of 1.16, suggesting that its share price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Boston Omaha has a beta of 1, suggesting that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Kennedy-Wilson and Boston Omaha”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kennedy-Wilson	$515.90 million	2.58	-$33.00 million	($0.26)	-37.10
Boston Omaha	$108.28 million	3.34	-$1.29 million	$0.03	383.83

Boston Omaha has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Kennedy-Wilson. Kennedy-Wilson is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Boston Omaha, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Kennedy-Wilson and Boston Omaha’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kennedy-Wilson	-9.11%	12.90%	1.51%
Boston Omaha	-0.21%	-0.04%	-0.03%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

87.7% of Kennedy-Wilson shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 60.4% of Boston Omaha shares are owned by institutional investors. 20.3% of Kennedy-Wilson shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 23.2% of Boston Omaha shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Kennedy-Wilson and Boston Omaha, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kennedy-Wilson	1	2	0	0	1.67
Boston Omaha	1	0	1	0	2.00

Kennedy-Wilson presently has a consensus price target of $10.00, indicating a potential upside of 3.68%. Boston Omaha has a consensus price target of $25.00, indicating a potential upside of 117.11%. Given Boston Omaha’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Boston Omaha is more favorable than Kennedy-Wilson.

Summary

Boston Omaha beats Kennedy-Wilson on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Kennedy-Wilson

Kennedy-Wilson Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a real estate investment company. The company owns, operates, and invests in real estate both on its own and through its investment management platform. It focuses on multifamily and office properties located in the Western United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Italy, and Japan. The company had ownership interests in multifamily units, office space, retail and industrial space, and a hotel. It is involved in the development, redevelopment, and entitlement of real estate properties. Kennedy-Wilson Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California.

About Boston Omaha

Boston Omaha Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the outdoor billboard advertising business in the southeast United States. It is also involved in the surety insurance and related brokerage, broadband, and asset management businesses. The company was formerly known as REO Plus, Inc. and changed its name to Boston Omaha Corporation in March 2015. Boston Omaha Corporation was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska.