Four Corners Property Trust (NYSE:FCPT) and EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) Financial Comparison

Four Corners Property Trust (NYSE:FCPT) and EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, dividends, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Four Corners Property Trust and EastGroup Properties, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Four Corners Property Trust	0	6	2	0	2.25
EastGroup Properties	0	5	9	1	2.73

Four Corners Property Trust currently has a consensus price target of $28.00, indicating a potential upside of 10.41%. EastGroup Properties has a consensus price target of $195.53, indicating a potential upside of 2.83%. Given Four Corners Property Trust’s higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Four Corners Property Trust is more favorable than EastGroup Properties.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Four Corners Property Trust and EastGroup Properties”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Four Corners Property Trust	$268.07 million	10.04	$100.47 million	$1.09	23.27
EastGroup Properties	$721.34 million	14.06	$227.75 million	$4.87	39.04

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

Profitability

This table compares Four Corners Property Trust and EastGroup Properties’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Four Corners Property Trust	38.04%	7.39%	3.98%
EastGroup Properties	35.68%	7.43%	4.85%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

98.7% of Four Corners Property Trust shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.1% of EastGroup Properties shares are held by institutional investors. 1.2% of Four Corners Property Trust shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of EastGroup Properties shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Four Corners Property Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.47 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.8%. EastGroup Properties pays an annual dividend of $6.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Four Corners Property Trust pays out 134.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. EastGroup Properties pays out 127.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Four Corners Property Trust has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years and EastGroup Properties has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Four Corners Property Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Risk and Volatility

Four Corners Property Trust has a beta of 0.83, indicating that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, EastGroup Properties has a beta of 1.11, indicating that its share price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

EastGroup Properties beats Four Corners Property Trust on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Four Corners Property Trust

Four Corners Property Trust, Inc. engages in the owning, acquisition, and leasing of properties for use in the restaurant and food-service related industries. It operates through the Real Estate Operations and Restaurant Operations segments. The Real Estate Operations segment consists of rental revenues generated by leasing restaurant properties. The Restaurant Operations segment includes the Kerrow Restaurant operating business. The company was founded on July 2, 2015 and is headquartered in Mill Valley, CA.

About EastGroup Properties

EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE: EGP), a member of the S&P Mid-Cap 400 and Russell 1000 Indexes, is a self-administered equity real estate investment trust focused on the development, acquisition and operation of industrial properties in major Sunbelt markets throughout the United States with an emphasis in the states of Florida, Texas, Arizona, California and North Carolina. The Company's goal is to maximize shareholder value by being a leading provider in its markets of functional, flexible and quality business distribution space for location sensitive customers (primarily in the 20,000 to 100,000 square foot range). The Company's strategy for growth is based on ownership of premier distribution facilities generally clustered near major transportation features in supply-constrained submarkets. The Company's portfolio, including development projects and value-add acquisitions in lease-up and under construction, currently includes approximately 59 million square feet.