Whitestone REIT (NYSE:WSR) & Four Corners Property Trust (NYSE:FCPT) Head to Head Survey

Whitestone REIT (NYSE:WSR) and Four Corners Property Trust (NYSE:FCPT) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability and risk.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

69.5% of Whitestone REIT shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.7% of Four Corners Property Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.2% of Whitestone REIT shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of Four Corners Property Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Whitestone REIT and Four Corners Property Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Whitestone REIT	30.67%	11.12%	4.34%
Four Corners Property Trust	38.74%	7.38%	4.06%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Whitestone REIT and Four Corners Property Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Whitestone REIT	0	9	1	0	2.10
Four Corners Property Trust	0	6	3	0	2.33

Whitestone REIT presently has a consensus price target of $17.50, suggesting a potential downside of 7.97%. Four Corners Property Trust has a consensus price target of $28.00, suggesting a potential upside of 11.67%. Given Four Corners Property Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Four Corners Property Trust is more favorable than Whitestone REIT.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Whitestone REIT and Four Corners Property Trust”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Whitestone REIT	$160.86 million	6.07	$49.93 million	$0.96	19.81
Four Corners Property Trust	$294.13 million	9.36	$112.36 million	$1.12	22.39

Four Corners Property Trust has higher revenue and earnings than Whitestone REIT. Whitestone REIT is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Four Corners Property Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Whitestone REIT pays an annual dividend of $0.57 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Four Corners Property Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.47 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.9%. Whitestone REIT pays out 59.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Four Corners Property Trust pays out 131.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Whitestone REIT has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years and Four Corners Property Trust has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years.

Risk and Volatility

Whitestone REIT has a beta of 0.8, meaning that its share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Four Corners Property Trust has a beta of 0.83, meaning that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Four Corners Property Trust beats Whitestone REIT on 12 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Whitestone REIT

Whitestone REIT (NYSE: WSR) is a community-centered real estate investment trust (REIT) that acquires, owns, operates, and develops open-air, retail centers located in some of the fastest growing markets in the country: Phoenix, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio. Our centers are convenience focused: merchandised with a mix of service-oriented tenants providing food (restaurants and grocers), self-care (health and fitness), services (financial and logistics), education and entertainment to the surrounding communities. The Company believes its strong community connections and deep tenant relationships are key to the success of its current centers and its acquisition strategy.

About Four Corners Property Trust

Four Corners Property Trust, Inc. engages in the owning, acquisition, and leasing of properties for use in the restaurant and food-service related industries. It operates through the Real Estate Operations and Restaurant Operations segments. The Real Estate Operations segment consists of rental revenues generated by leasing restaurant properties. The Restaurant Operations segment includes the Kerrow Restaurant operating business. The company was founded on July 2, 2015 and is headquartered in Mill Valley, CA.