Contrasting Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust (OTCMKTS:BOWFF) & Equity Lifestyle Properties (NYSE:ELS)

Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust (OTCMKTS:BOWFF) and Equity Lifestyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, valuation, risk and earnings.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

97.2% of Equity Lifestyle Properties shares are owned by institutional investors. 19.0% of Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of Equity Lifestyle Properties 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.

Volatility & Risk

Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust has a beta of 1.16, suggesting that its share price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Equity Lifestyle Properties has a beta of 0.73, suggesting that its share price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust and Equity Lifestyle Properties, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust	0	1	0	0	2.00
Equity Lifestyle Properties	0	4	6	1	2.73

Equity Lifestyle Properties has a consensus price target of $73.90, indicating a potential upside of 17.68%. Given Equity Lifestyle Properties’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Equity Lifestyle Properties is more favorable than Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust and Equity Lifestyle Properties”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust	$440.33 million	5.62	$429.28 million	$4.00	12.64
Equity Lifestyle Properties	$1.53 billion	7.87	$367.01 million	$1.93	32.54

Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Equity Lifestyle Properties. Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Equity Lifestyle Properties, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.17 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Equity Lifestyle Properties pays an annual dividend of $2.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust pays out 29.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Equity Lifestyle Properties pays out 106.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Equity Lifestyle Properties has increased its dividend for 21 consecutive years. Equity Lifestyle Properties is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust and Equity Lifestyle Properties’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust	67.26%	8.55%	4.79%
Equity Lifestyle Properties	23.99%	21.99%	6.49%

Summary

Equity Lifestyle Properties beats Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust

Boardwalk REIT strives to be Canada’s friendliest community provider and is a leading owner/operator of multi-family rental communities. Providing homes in more than 200 communities, with over 34,000 residential suites totaling over 29 million net rentable square feet, Boardwalk has a proven long-term track record of building better communities, where love always lives. Our three-tiered and distinct brands: Boardwalk Living, Boardwalk Communities, and Boardwalk Lifestyle, cater to a large diverse demographic and has evolved to capture the life cycle of all Resident Members. Boardwalk’s disciplined approach to capital allocation, acquisition, development, purposeful re-positioning, and management of apartment communities allows the Trust to provide its brand of community across Canada creating exceptional Resident Member experiences. Differentiated by its peak performance culture, Boardwalk is committed to delivering exceptional service, product quality and experience to our Resident Members who reward us with high retention and market leading operating results, which in turn, lead to higher free cash flow and investment returns, stable monthly distributions, and value creation for all our stakeholders. Boardwalk REIT’s Trust Units are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, trading under the symbol BEI.UN.

About Equity Lifestyle Properties

Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. is a real estate investment trust, which engages in the ownership and operation of lifestyle-oriented properties consisting primarily of manufactured home, and recreational vehicle communities. It operates through the following segments: Property Operations and Home Sales and Rentals Operations. The Property Operations segment owns and operates land lease properties. The Home Sales and Rentals Operations segment purchases, sells, and leases homes. The company was founded by James M. Hankins in December 1992 and is headquartered in Chicago, IL.