Analyzing Nippon Building Fund (OTCMKTS:NBFJF) & Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW)

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) and Nippon Building Fund (OTCMKTS:NBFJF) are both real estate companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and earnings.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

96.3% of Highwoods Properties shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 42.3% of Nippon Building Fund shares are held by institutional investors. 1.3% of Highwoods Properties shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Highwoods Properties and Nippon Building Fund’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Highwoods Properties	20.74%	7.06%	2.72%
Nippon Building Fund	N/A	N/A	N/A

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Highwoods Properties and Nippon Building Fund”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Highwoods Properties	$835.54 million	4.06	$159.61 million	$1.52	20.25
Nippon Building Fund	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Highwoods Properties has higher revenue and earnings than Nippon Building Fund.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Highwoods Properties and Nippon Building Fund, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Highwoods Properties	0	7	1	0	2.12
Nippon Building Fund	0	0	0	0	0.00

Highwoods Properties presently has a consensus price target of $32.33, indicating a potential upside of 5.03%. Given Highwoods Properties’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Highwoods Properties is more favorable than Nippon Building Fund.

Summary

Highwoods Properties beats Nippon Building Fund on 9 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Highwoods Properties

Highwoods Properties, Inc., headquartered in Raleigh, is a publicly-traded (NYSE:HIW), fully-integrated office real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, develops, acquires, leases and manages properties primarily in the best business districts (BBDs) of Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Nashville, Orlando, Raleigh, Richmond and Tampa. Highwoods is in the work-placemaking business. We believe that by creating environments and experiences where the best and brightest can achieve together what they cannot apart, we can deliver greater value to our customers, their teammates and, in turn, our stakeholders.

About Nippon Building Fund

NBF (Nippon Building Fund Inc.) is Japan's largest real estate investment trust (J-REIT) which invests in office buildings primarily in Tokyo as well as nationwide. its objective is to source the solid growth of the stable revenues from its assets through exploitation of Mitsui Fudossan's know-how.