Contrasting Mitsubishi Estate (OTCMKTS:MITEY) & St. Joe (NYSE:JOE)

St. Joe (NYSE:JOE) and Mitsubishi Estate (OTCMKTS:MITEY) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk and institutional ownership.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares St. Joe and Mitsubishi Estate”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
St. Joe	$513.20 million	6.88	$115.63 million	$1.94	31.71
Mitsubishi Estate	$10.37 billion	3.26	$1.27 billion	$1.28	21.68

Mitsubishi Estate has higher revenue and earnings than St. Joe. Mitsubishi Estate is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than St. Joe, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

St. Joe pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Mitsubishi Estate pays an annual dividend of $0.17 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. St. Joe pays out 33.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Mitsubishi Estate pays out 13.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. St. Joe has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years. St. Joe is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

86.7% of St. Joe shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of St. Joe shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for St. Joe and Mitsubishi Estate, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
St. Joe	0	0	1	0	3.00
Mitsubishi Estate	0	0	0	1	4.00

Volatility and Risk

St. Joe has a beta of 1.31, meaning that its stock price is 31% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mitsubishi Estate has a beta of 0.13, meaning that its stock price is 87% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares St. Joe and Mitsubishi Estate’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
St. Joe	21.61%	14.59%	7.32%
Mitsubishi Estate	13.66%	5.62%	1.88%

Summary

St. Joe beats Mitsubishi Estate on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About St. Joe

The St. Joe Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a real estate development, asset management, and operating company in Northwest Florida. It operates through three segments: Residential, Hospitality, and Commercial. The Residential segment engages in the development of communities into homesites for sale to homebuilders and on a limited basis to retail customers. This segment primarily sells developed homesites, completed homes, parcels of entitled or undeveloped land or homesites, and a homesite residual on homebuilder, as well as offers title insurance and marketing services. The Hospitality segment owns and operates a private membership club, golf courses, beach clubs, retail outlets, marinas, and other entertainment assets. This segment also engages in the hotel, food and beverage, and gulf-front vacation rental operations, as well as provides management services. The Commercial segment engages in leasing of commercial property, multi-family, a senior living community, and other assets. This segment is also involved in the planning, development, entitlement, management, and sale of commercial and rural land holdings for retail, office, hotel, senior living, multi-family, self-storage, and industrial uses; and grows and sells pulpwood, sawtimber, and other forest products. The company was incorporated in 1936 and is based in Panama City Beach, Florida.

About Mitsubishi Estate

Mitsubishi Estate Co., Ltd. engages in the real estate activities in Japan and internationally. The company develops, leases, manages, and sells office buildings and commercial facilities; operates rental offices, coworking space, virtual offices, hourly meeting rooms, home delivery storage service, commercial nursing homes, and building garages; offers real estate management, as well as building management services, such as security, facility management, cleaning, and planting services; and operates hotels and airports. It also engages in the construction, sales, management, and leasing of developed condominiums and residential houses; design and contract construction of custom-built houses; renovation and sales of condominiums; real estate brokerage; dark fiber leasing and data center housing business; provision of real estate investment, such as asset management services to investment corporations and real estate funds; architectural design and engineering business; cooling and heating supply business; and parking management business. In addition, the company plans and operates logistics facilities; purchases, manufactures, processes, and sells construction materials; constructs prefabricated housing using cross-laminated timber and laminated wood; constructs, manufactures, and sells furniture and household items; offers financial consulting and investment advisory services; and develops and manages information systems and software. Further, it plans, develops, and operates GYYM, a platform service for fitness facilities; Ele-Cinema, a content distribution service that utilizes projectors in elevators; WELL ROOM, a healthcare portal site for foreign residents; and delivery and takeout systems. Additionally, the company produces and sells agricultural products; and offers walking tour entertainment content, human resources, land management, and landscaping services. Mitsubishi Estate Co., Ltd. was founded in 1890 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.