Head-To-Head Analysis: NNN REIT (NYSE:NNN) and STAG Industrial (NYSE:STAG)

STAG Industrial (NYSE:STAG) and NNN REIT (NYSE:NNN) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for STAG Industrial and NNN REIT, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
STAG Industrial	0	4	3	0	2.43
NNN REIT	1	9	3	0	2.15

STAG Industrial currently has a consensus price target of $39.71, suggesting a potential upside of 9.29%. NNN REIT has a consensus price target of $44.46, suggesting a potential upside of 4.84%. Given STAG Industrial’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe STAG Industrial is more favorable than NNN REIT.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

88.7% of STAG Industrial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.0% of NNN REIT shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of STAG Industrial shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of NNN REIT shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

STAG Industrial has a beta of 0.94, indicating that its stock price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NNN REIT has a beta of 0.92, indicating that its stock price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares STAG Industrial and NNN REIT”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
STAG Industrial	$785.42 million	8.63	$189.22 million	$1.33	27.32
NNN REIT	$884.71 million	9.01	$396.83 million	$2.14	19.82

NNN REIT has higher revenue and earnings than STAG Industrial. NNN REIT is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than STAG Industrial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares STAG Industrial and NNN REIT’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
STAG Industrial	24.64%	5.51%	2.89%
NNN REIT	45.65%	9.28%	4.51%

Dividends

STAG Industrial pays an annual dividend of $1.49 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. NNN REIT pays an annual dividend of $2.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.5%. STAG Industrial pays out 112.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. NNN REIT pays out 108.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. STAG Industrial has increased its dividend for 7 consecutive years and NNN REIT has increased its dividend for 35 consecutive years. NNN REIT is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

NNN REIT beats STAG Industrial on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About STAG Industrial

STAG Industrial, Inc. is a real estate investment company, which engages in acquiring, owning, and managing single-tenant, industrial real estate assets. It offers industrial real estate operating platform to real estate ownership. The company was founded by Benjamin S. Butcher on July 21, 2010 and is headquartered in Boston, MA.

About NNN REIT

NNN REIT invests primarily in high-quality retail properties subject generally to long-term, net leases. As of December 31, 2023, the company owned 3,532 properties in 49 states with a gross leasable area of approximately 36.0 million square feet and a weighted average remaining lease term of 10.1 years. NNN is one of only three publicly traded REITs to have increased annual dividends for 34 or more consecutive years.