Comparing Alexander’s (NYSE:ALX) and HG (OTCMKTS:STLY)

HG (OTCMKTS:STLY) and Alexander’s (NYSE:ALX) are both small-cap real estate companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and dividends.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

1.7% of HG shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 32.0% of Alexander’s shares are held by institutional investors. 75.7% of HG shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 26.4% of Alexander’s shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for HG and Alexander’s, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
HG	0	0	0	0	0.00
Alexander’s	1	0	1	1	2.67

Alexander’s has a consensus target price of $212.00, indicating a potential downside of 20.71%. Given Alexander’s’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Alexander’s is more favorable than HG.

Volatility & Risk

HG has a beta of 0.12, indicating that its share price is 88% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alexander’s has a beta of 0.77, indicating that its share price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares HG and Alexander’s”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
HG	$14.74 million	1.11	$1.53 million	$0.36	9.03
Alexander’s	$213.18 million	6.41	$28.22 million	$33.05	8.09

Alexander’s has higher revenue and earnings than HG. Alexander’s is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than HG, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares HG and Alexander’s’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
HG	14.15%	5.46%	4.29%
Alexander’s	79.06%	123.09%	14.43%

Summary

Alexander’s beats HG on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About HG

HG Holdings, Inc. engages in the title insurance and real estate businesses in the United States. It operates through four segments: Title Insurance Services, Reinsurance, Management Services, and Real Estate. The company provides title insurance, closing and/or escrow, and similar or related services in connection with residential and commercial real estate transactions. It also owns and operates a portfolio of single-tenant properties leased for the occupancy by U.S. government tenant agencies and sub-agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Veterans affairs, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration & Customs Enforcement, the Social Security Administration, and the Department of Transportation. In addition, the company provides excess-of-loss reinsurance coverage related to catastrophic weather risk in Texas; and management advisory services, such as formation, operational, and restructuring services. The company was formerly known as Stanley Furniture Company, Inc. and changed its name to HG Holdings, Inc. in March 2018. HG Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 1984 and is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.

About Alexander’s

Alexander’s, Inc. (NYSE: ALX) is a real estate investment trust (REIT), incorporated in Delaware, engaged in leasing, managing, developing and redeveloping its properties. All references to we, us, our, Company and Alexander’s refer to Alexander’s, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries. We are managed by, and our properties are leased and developed by, Vornado Realty Trust (Vornado) (NYSE: VNO). We have five properties in New York City.