Head to Head Analysis: Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) & Sunrise Realty Trust (NASDAQ:SUNS)

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) and Sunrise Realty Trust (NASDAQ:SUNS) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, earnings and institutional ownership.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Essex Property Trust and Sunrise Realty Trust”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Essex Property Trust	$1.81 billion	10.04	$741.52 million	$10.45	27.04
Sunrise Realty Trust	$10.63 million	13.40	$230,000.00	$1.01	10.50

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Essex Property Trust and Sunrise Realty Trust, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Essex Property Trust	1	12	7	0	2.30
Sunrise Realty Trust	0	0	3	1	3.25

Essex Property Trust presently has a consensus price target of $308.11, indicating a potential upside of 9.02%. Sunrise Realty Trust has a consensus price target of $13.06, indicating a potential upside of 23.11%. Given Sunrise Realty Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Sunrise Realty Trust is more favorable than Essex Property Trust.

Dividends

Essex Property Trust pays an annual dividend of $10.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Sunrise Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 11.3%. Essex Property Trust pays out 98.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Sunrise Realty Trust pays out 118.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Essex Property Trust has increased its dividend for 31 consecutive years.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

96.5% of Essex Property Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.5% of Essex Property Trust shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 24.8% of Sunrise Realty Trust 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.

Profitability

This table compares Essex Property Trust and Sunrise Realty Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Essex Property Trust	41.79%	13.05%	5.82%
Sunrise Realty Trust	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Essex Property Trust beats Sunrise Realty Trust on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Essex Property Trust

Essex Property Trust, Inc., an S&P 500 company, is a fully integrated real estate investment trust (REIT) that acquires, develops, redevelops, and manages multifamily residential properties in selected West Coast markets. Essex currently has ownership interests in 252 apartment communities comprising approximately 62,000 apartment homes with an additional property in active development.

About Sunrise Realty Trust

Sunrise Realty Trust, Inc. engages in commercial real estate (CRE) lending business. It focuses on originating CRE debt investments and providing capital to borrowers and sponsors with transitional business plans collateralized by CRE assets. The company intends to create a diversified investment portfolio, targeting investments in senior mortgage loans, mezzanine loans, whole loans, B-notes, CMBS, and debt-like preferred equity securities across CRE asset classes. Sunrise Realty Trust, Inc. was incorporated in 2023 and is based in West Palm Beach, Florida.