Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD) versus Stag Industrial (NYSE:STAG) Critical Analysis

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

Volatility and Risk

Americold Realty Trust has a beta of 0.97, meaning that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Stag Industrial has a beta of 0.98, meaning that its share price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

98.1% of Americold Realty Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 88.7% of Stag Industrial shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of Americold Realty Trust shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Stag Industrial shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Americold Realty Trust and Stag Industrial”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Americold Realty Trust	$2.60 billion	1.53	-$114.55 million	($0.39)	-35.84
Stag Industrial	$845.18 million	8.73	$273.52 million	$1.29	29.92

Stag Industrial has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Americold Realty Trust. Americold Realty Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Stag Industrial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Americold Realty Trust and Stag Industrial, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Americold Realty Trust	4	9	3	0	1.94
Stag Industrial	1	6	3	0	2.20

Americold Realty Trust presently has a consensus price target of $14.71, suggesting a potential upside of 5.27%. Stag Industrial has a consensus price target of $40.40, suggesting a potential upside of 4.68%. Given Americold Realty Trust’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Americold Realty Trust is more favorable than Stag Industrial.

Profitability

This table compares Americold Realty Trust and Stag Industrial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Americold Realty Trust	-4.29%	-3.73%	-1.38%
Stag Industrial	28.25%	6.80%	3.47%

Dividends

Americold Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.6%. Stag Industrial pays an annual dividend of $1.55 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Americold Realty Trust pays out -235.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Stag Industrial pays out 120.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Americold Realty Trust has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years and Stag Industrial has raised its dividend for 7 consecutive years. Americold Realty Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Stag Industrial beats Americold Realty Trust on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Americold Realty Trust

Americold Realty Trust, Inc. is a real estate investment trust, which focuses on the ownership, operation, development, and acquisition of temperature-controlled warehouses. It operates through the following segments: Warehouse, Third-Party Managed, Transportation, and Other. The Warehouse segment collects rent and storage fees from customers to store frozen and perishable food and other products within the firm’s real estate portfolio. The Third-Party Managed segment manages warehouses on behalf of third parties and provides warehouse management services to food retailers and manufacturers in customer-owned facilities. The Transportation segment is involved in brokering and managing transportation of frozen and perishable food and other products. The Other segment includes ownership in a limestone quarry in Carthage, Missouri. The company was founded in 1931 and is headquartered in Atlanta, GA.

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.