Head-To-Head Survey: Claros Mortgage Trust (NYSE:CMTG) versus MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA)

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

89.5% of Claros Mortgage Trust shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 65.3% of MFA Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 2.6% of Claros Mortgage Trust shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of MFA Financial shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Claros Mortgage Trust has a beta of 1.16, indicating that its stock price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MFA Financial has a beta of 1.42, indicating that its stock price is 42% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Claros Mortgage Trust	-354.13%	-19.70%	-6.52%
MFA Financial	19.38%	7.58%	1.05%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Claros Mortgage Trust and MFA Financial”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Claros Mortgage Trust	$187.83 million	1.22	-$489.07 million	($3.83)	-0.43
MFA Financial	$745.06 million	1.20	$176.78 million	$1.00	8.85

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Claros Mortgage Trust and MFA Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Claros Mortgage Trust	3	1	0	0	1.25
MFA Financial	0	3	4	0	2.57

Claros Mortgage Trust currently has a consensus target price of $2.22, suggesting a potential upside of 35.99%. MFA Financial has a consensus target price of $10.46, suggesting a potential upside of 18.17%. Given Claros Mortgage Trust’s higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Claros Mortgage Trust is more favorable than MFA Financial.

Summary

MFA Financial beats Claros Mortgage Trust on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About MFA Financial

MFA Financial, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a real estate investment trust in the United States. It invests in residential mortgage securities, including non-agency mortgage-backed securities, agency MBS, and credit risk transfer securities; residential whole loans, including purchased performing loans, purchased credit deteriorated, and non-performing loans; and mortgage servicing rights related assets. The company was incorporated in 1997 and is based in New York, New York.