Head-To-Head Survey: Chatham Lodging Trust (NYSE:CLDT) versus SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC)

Chatham Lodging Trust (NYSE:CLDT) and SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, dividends and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Chatham Lodging Trust and SBA Communications, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Chatham Lodging Trust	0	3	2	0	2.40
SBA Communications	0	9	8	1	2.56

Chatham Lodging Trust currently has a consensus price target of $12.50, indicating a potential downside of 7.61%. SBA Communications has a consensus price target of $236.39, indicating a potential upside of 28.64%. Given SBA Communications’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe SBA Communications is more favorable than Chatham Lodging Trust.

Risk and Volatility

Chatham Lodging Trust has a beta of 1.12, meaning that its share price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SBA Communications has a beta of 0.99, meaning that its share price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Chatham Lodging Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. SBA Communications pays an annual dividend of $5.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Chatham Lodging Trust pays out 2,000.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. SBA Communications pays out 52.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Chatham Lodging Trust has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years and SBA Communications has raised its dividend for 6 consecutive years.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

88.4% of Chatham Lodging Trust shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.4% of SBA Communications shares are held by institutional investors. 8.1% of Chatham Lodging Trust shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 9.5% of SBA Communications shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Chatham Lodging Trust and SBA Communications’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Chatham Lodging Trust	3.14%	1.18%	0.77%
SBA Communications	35.66%	-20.90%	8.98%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Chatham Lodging Trust and SBA Communications”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Chatham Lodging Trust	$293.94 million	2.15	$15.05 million	$0.02	676.50
SBA Communications	$2.82 billion	6.92	$1.05 billion	$9.50	19.34

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

Summary

SBA Communications beats Chatham Lodging Trust on 14 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Chatham Lodging Trust

Chatham Lodging Trust is a self-advised, publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) focused primarily on investing in upscale, extended-stay hotels and premium-branded, select-service hotels. The company owns 39 hotels totaling 5,915 rooms/suites in 16 states and the District of Columbia.

About SBA Communications

SBA Communications Corporation is a leading independent owner and operator of wireless communications infrastructure including towers, buildings, rooftops, distributed antenna systems (DAS) and small cells. With a portfolio of more than 39,000 communications sites throughout the Americas, Africa and in Asia, SBA is listed on NASDAQ under the symbol SBAC. Our organization is part of the S&P 500 and is one of the top Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) by market capitalization.