Contrasting Gadsden Properties (OTCMKTS:GADS) & UMH Properties (NYSE:UMH)

UMH Properties (NYSE:UMH) and Gadsden Properties (OTCMKTS:GADS) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings and institutional ownership.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

75.4% of UMH Properties shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.8% of UMH Properties shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.0% of Gadsden Properties shares are owned by company 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for UMH Properties and Gadsden Properties, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
UMH Properties	0	3	3	0	2.50
Gadsden Properties	0	0	0	0	0.00

UMH Properties presently has a consensus target price of $18.20, suggesting a potential upside of 14.61%. Given UMH Properties’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe UMH Properties is more favorable than Gadsden Properties.

Profitability

This table compares UMH Properties and Gadsden Properties’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
UMH Properties	10.47%	4.47%	1.69%
Gadsden Properties	N/A	N/A	N/A

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares UMH Properties and Gadsden Properties”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
UMH Properties	$240.55 million	5.63	$21.64 million	$0.08	198.50
Gadsden Properties	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

UMH Properties has higher revenue and earnings than Gadsden Properties.

Risk & Volatility

UMH Properties has a beta of 1.09, indicating that its stock price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Gadsden Properties has a beta of -8.94, indicating that its stock price is 994% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

UMH Properties beats Gadsden Properties on 10 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About UMH Properties

UMH Properties, Inc., which was organized in 1968, is a public equity REIT that owns and operates 135 manufactured home communities containing approximately 25,800 developed homesites. These communities are located in New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Indiana, Michigan, Maryland, Alabama, South Carolina and Georgia. UMH also has an ownership interest in and operates two communities in Florida, containing 363 sites, through its joint venture with Nuveen Real Estate

About Gadsden Properties

Gadsden Properties, Inc. is a Nevada corporation that was formed on December 28, 2010. Gadsden concentrates primarily on investments in high quality income-producing assets, residential developments and other opportunistic commercial properties in secondary and tertiary markets across the United States. The Company derives value from smaller, flexible retail investments that range from $5 million to $50 million and off-market mixed-use properties ranging from $50 million to $250 million. As a result of this chosen strategy, we believe that Gadsden is developing a unique competitive advantage that generally allows the Company to invest in markets and assets that are often overlooked by larger institutional investors, such as publicly-traded REITs and other large institutional investors. As part of its strategy, Gadsden attracts specific sellers that prefer the tax deferral advantages offered through issuing operating partnership units in exchange for their properties. These real estate assets are typically operated by independent owners that are seeking to monetize their real estate holdings, and who are typically not well capitalized or well-seasoned real estate operators. These transactions create a variety of outcomes for Gadsden and the sellers typically resulting in lease-up and value-added opportunities that may not be otherwise achieved.