Critical Review: Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) versus Prologis (NYSE:PLD)

Prologis (NYSE:PLD) and Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, dividends and earnings.

Volatility & Risk

Prologis has a beta of 1.29, indicating that its share price is 29% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Host Hotels & Resorts has a beta of 1.36, indicating that its share price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Prologis and Host Hotels & Resorts’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Prologis	36.71%	5.55%	3.31%
Host Hotels & Resorts	11.12%	9.90%	5.07%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Prologis and Host Hotels & Resorts, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Prologis	0	7	10	2	2.74
Host Hotels & Resorts	0	7	5	1	2.54

Prologis presently has a consensus target price of $125.39, indicating a potential upside of 2.18%. Host Hotels & Resorts has a consensus target price of $18.38, indicating a potential upside of 4.46%. Given Host Hotels & Resorts’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Host Hotels & Resorts is more favorable than Prologis.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Prologis and Host Hotels & Resorts”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Prologis	$8.74 billion	13.04	$3.73 billion	$3.43	35.77
Host Hotels & Resorts	$5.94 billion	2.04	$697.00 million	$1.05	16.75

Prologis has higher revenue and earnings than Host Hotels & Resorts. Host Hotels & Resorts is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Prologis, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

93.5% of Prologis shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.5% of Host Hotels & Resorts shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Prologis shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of Host Hotels & Resorts shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Prologis pays an annual dividend of $4.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Host Hotels & Resorts pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.5%. Prologis pays out 117.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Host Hotels & Resorts pays out 76.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Prologis has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years and Host Hotels & Resorts has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Host Hotels & Resorts is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Prologis beats Host Hotels & Resorts on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Prologis

Prologis, Inc. is the global leader in logistics real estate with a focus on high-barrier, high-growth markets. At March 31, 2024, the company owned or had investments in, on a wholly owned basis or through co-investment ventures, properties and development projects expected to total approximately 1.2 billion square feet (115 million square meters) in 19 countries. Prologis leases modern logistics facilities to a diverse base of approximately 6,700 customers principally across two major categories: business-to-business and retail/online fulfillment.

About Host Hotels & Resorts

Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. is a real estate investment trust, which engages in the management of luxury and upper-upscale hotels. It operates through the following geographical segments: United States, Brazil, and Canada. The company was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in Bethesda, MD.