Reviewing Global Net Lease (NYSE:GNL) & Welltower (NYSE:WELL)

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) and Global Net Lease (NYSE:GNL) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, valuation, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Welltower and Global Net Lease, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Welltower	1	1	11	1	2.86
Global Net Lease	0	1	3	1	3.00

Welltower presently has a consensus target price of $193.93, suggesting a potential downside of 4.53%. Global Net Lease has a consensus target price of $9.50, suggesting a potential upside of 16.35%. Given Global Net Lease’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Global Net Lease is more favorable than Welltower.

Profitability

This table compares Welltower and Global Net Lease’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Welltower	9.69%	2.71%	1.75%
Global Net Lease	-48.52%	-10.27%	-3.49%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

94.8% of Welltower shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.2% of Global Net Lease shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Welltower shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Global Net Lease shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Welltower and Global Net Lease”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Welltower	$9.75 billion	14.30	$951.68 million	$1.45	140.09
Global Net Lease	$805.01 million	2.22	-$131.57 million	($1.43)	-5.71

Welltower has higher revenue and earnings than Global Net Lease. Global Net Lease is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Welltower, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Welltower pays an annual dividend of $2.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Global Net Lease pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.3%. Welltower pays out 204.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Global Net Lease pays out -53.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Welltower has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Global Net Lease is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Risk & Volatility

Welltower has a beta of 0.92, suggesting that its share price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Global Net Lease has a beta of 1.13, suggesting that its share price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Welltower beats Global Net Lease on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Welltower

Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL), a real estate investment trust (“REIT”) and S&P 500 company headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, is driving the transformation of health care infrastructure. Welltower invests with leading seniors housing operators, post-acute providers and health systems to fund the real estate infrastructure needed to scale innovative care delivery models and improve people’s wellness and overall health care experience. Welltower owns interests in properties concentrated in major, high-growth markets in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, consisting of seniors housing and post-acute communities and outpatient medical properties.

About Global Net Lease

Global Net Lease, Inc. (NYSE: GNL) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust listed on the NYSE. The firm focused on acquiring a diversified global portfolio of commercial properties, with an emphasis on sale-leaseback transactions involving single tenant, mission critical income producing net-leased assets across the United States, Western and Northern Europe.