Contrasting Safehold (NYSE:SAFE) and BRT Apartments (NYSE:BRT)

Safehold (NYSE:SAFE) and BRT Apartments (NYSE:BRT) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, profitability, valuation, risk and analyst recommendations.

Volatility & Risk

Safehold has a beta of 1.85, suggesting that its stock price is 85% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BRT Apartments has a beta of 0.97, suggesting that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Safehold and BRT Apartments”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Safehold	$365.68 million	2.68	$105.76 million	$1.57	8.70
BRT Apartments	$95.63 million	2.85	-$9.79 million	($0.51)	-28.11

Safehold has higher revenue and earnings than BRT Apartments. BRT Apartments is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Safehold, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Safehold pays an annual dividend of $0.71 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.2%. BRT Apartments pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.0%. Safehold pays out 45.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. BRT Apartments pays out -196.1% 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. Safehold has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. BRT Apartments is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

70.4% of Safehold shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 29.1% of BRT Apartments shares are held by institutional investors. 3.5% of Safehold shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 40.2% of BRT Apartments shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Safehold and BRT Apartments’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Safehold	29.67%	4.78%	1.63%
BRT Apartments	-10.02%	-4.96%	-1.37%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Safehold and BRT Apartments, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Safehold	0	7	4	0	2.36
BRT Apartments	1	1	2	0	2.25

Safehold currently has a consensus target price of $19.22, indicating a potential upside of 40.67%. BRT Apartments has a consensus target price of $19.75, indicating a potential upside of 37.77%. Given Safehold’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Safehold is more favorable than BRT Apartments.

Summary

Safehold beats BRT Apartments on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Safehold

Safehold Inc. (NYSE: SAFE) is revolutionizing real estate ownership by providing a new and better way for owners to unlock the value of the land beneath their buildings. Having created the modern ground lease industry in 2017, Safehold continues to help owners of high quality multifamily, office, industrial, hospitality, student housing, life science and mixed-use properties generate higher returns with less risk. The Company, which is taxed as a real estate investment trust (REIT), seeks to deliver safe, growing income and long-term capital appreciation to its shareholders.

About BRT Apartments

BRT Apartments Corp. is a real estate investment trust. It engages in the ownership, operation, and holding interests in joint ventures that own and operate multi-family properties. The company was founded in June 1972 and is headquartered in Great Neck, NY.