Head-To-Head Survey: Claros Mortgage Trust (NYSE:CMTG) and RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ)

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) and Claros Mortgage Trust (NYSE:CMTG) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation and profitability.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares RLJ Lodging Trust and Claros Mortgage Trust”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
RLJ Lodging Trust	$1.37 billion	0.85	$68.02 million	$0.21	36.70
Claros Mortgage Trust	$248.41 million	2.08	-$221.26 million	($2.98)	-1.24

RLJ Lodging Trust has higher revenue and earnings than Claros Mortgage Trust. Claros Mortgage Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than RLJ Lodging Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

92.4% of RLJ Lodging Trust shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.5% of Claros Mortgage Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 2.9% of RLJ Lodging Trust shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.8% of Claros Mortgage Trust shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for RLJ Lodging Trust and Claros Mortgage Trust, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
RLJ Lodging Trust	1	2	2	0	2.20
Claros Mortgage Trust	2	1	1	0	1.75

RLJ Lodging Trust currently has a consensus price target of $9.25, indicating a potential upside of 20.04%. Claros Mortgage Trust has a consensus price target of $4.13, indicating a potential upside of 11.61%. Given RLJ Lodging Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe RLJ Lodging Trust is more favorable than Claros Mortgage Trust.

Volatility & Risk

RLJ Lodging Trust has a beta of 1.5, suggesting that its share price is 50% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Claros Mortgage Trust has a beta of 1.23, suggesting that its share price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares RLJ Lodging Trust and Claros Mortgage Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
RLJ Lodging Trust	4.23%	3.03%	1.19%
Claros Mortgage Trust	-189.56%	-5.11%	-1.49%

Summary

RLJ Lodging Trust beats Claros Mortgage Trust on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About RLJ Lodging Trust

RLJ Lodging Trust is a self-advised, publicly traded real estate investment trust that owns primarily premium-branded, high-margin, focused-service and compact full-service hotels. The Company's portfolio currently consists of 96 hotels with approximately 21,200 rooms, located in 23 states and the District of Columbia and an ownership interest in one unconsolidated hotel with 171 rooms.

About Claros Mortgage Trust

Claros Mortgage Trust, Inc. operates as a real estate investment trust. It focuses on originating senior and subordinate loans on transitional commercial real estate assets in the United States. The company has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust. As a result, it would not be subject to corporate income tax on that portion of its net income that is distributed to shareholders. The company was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in New York, New York.