Head-To-Head Contrast: Gaming and Leisure Properties (NASDAQ:GLPI) and Gladstone Land (NASDAQ:LANDP)

Gladstone Land (NASDAQ:LANDP) and Gaming and Leisure Properties (NASDAQ:GLPI) are both real estate companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

91.1% of Gaming and Leisure Properties shares are held by institutional investors. 4.1% of Gaming and Leisure 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.

Profitability

This table compares Gladstone Land and Gaming and Leisure Properties’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Gladstone Land	N/A	N/A	N/A
Gaming and Leisure Properties	59.01%	19.17%	7.29%

Dividends

Gladstone Land pays an annual dividend of $1.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.0%. Gaming and Leisure Properties pays an annual dividend of $3.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.5%. Gaming and Leisure Properties pays out 96.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Gaming and Leisure Properties has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Gaming and Leisure Properties is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Gladstone Land and Gaming and Leisure Properties, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Gladstone Land	0	0	0	0	0.00
Gaming and Leisure Properties	0	6	5	0	2.45

Gaming and Leisure Properties has a consensus price target of $50.20, indicating a potential upside of 14.59%. Given Gaming and Leisure Properties’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Gaming and Leisure Properties is more favorable than Gladstone Land.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Gladstone Land and Gaming and Leisure Properties”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Gladstone Land	$88.09 million	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Gaming and Leisure Properties	$1.59 billion	7.99	$825.11 million	$3.41	12.85

Gaming and Leisure Properties has higher revenue and earnings than Gladstone Land.

Summary

Gaming and Leisure Properties beats Gladstone Land on 11 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Gladstone Land

Founded in 1997, Gladstone Land is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that acquires and owns farmland and farm-related properties located in major agricultural markets in the U.S. and leases its properties to unrelated third-party farmers. The Company, which reports the aggregate fair value of its farmland holdings on a quarterly basis, currently owns 169 farms, comprised of approximately 116,000 acres in 15 different states and over 45,000 acre-feet of banked water in California, valued at a total of approximately $1.6 billion. Gladstone Land's farms are predominantly located in regions where its tenants are able to grow fresh produce annual row crops, such as berries and vegetables, which are generally planted and harvested annually. The Company also owns farms growing permanent crops, such as almonds, apples, cherries, figs, lemons, olives, pistachios, and other orchards, as well as blueberry groves and vineyards, which are generally planted every 20-plus years and harvested annually. Approximately 40% of the Company's fresh produce acreage is either organic or in transition to become organic, and over 10% of its permanent crop acreage falls into this category. The Company may also acquire property related to farming, such as cooling facilities, processing buildings, packaging facilities, and distribution centers. Gladstone Land pays monthly distributions to its stockholders and has paid 129 consecutive monthly cash distributions on its common stock since its initial public offering in January 2013. The Company has increased its common distributions 32 times over the prior 35 quarters, and the current per-share distribution on its common stock is $0.0464 per month, or $0.5568 per year.

About Gaming and Leisure Properties

Gaming & Leisure Properties, Inc. engages in the provision of acquiring, financing, and owning real estate property to be leased to gaming operators in triple-net lease arrangements. The company was founded on February 13, 2013 and is headquartered in Wyomissing, PA.