Contrasting Lineage (NASDAQ:LINE) and Innovative Industrial Properties (NYSE:IIPR)

Innovative Industrial Properties (NYSE:IIPR) and Lineage (NASDAQ:LINE) are both real estate companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Innovative Industrial Properties and Lineage, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Innovative Industrial Properties	1	3	0	0	1.75
Lineage	3	9	5	0	2.12

Innovative Industrial Properties presently has a consensus target price of $48.00, indicating a potential downside of 15.69%. Lineage has a consensus target price of $44.20, indicating a potential upside of 15.80%. Given Lineage’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Lineage is more favorable than Innovative Industrial Properties.

Dividends

Innovative Industrial Properties pays an annual dividend of $7.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 13.3%. Lineage pays an annual dividend of $2.13 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.6%. Innovative Industrial Properties pays out 172.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Lineage pays out -295.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Innovative Industrial Properties has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Innovative Industrial Properties is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

70.6% of Innovative Industrial Properties shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.3% of Innovative Industrial Properties shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 71.6% of Lineage shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Innovative Industrial Properties has a beta of 1.35, meaning that its stock price is 35% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lineage has a beta of 0.82, meaning that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Innovative Industrial Properties and Lineage’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Innovative Industrial Properties	52.27%	7.73%	5.69%
Lineage	-3.15%	-1.85%	-0.89%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Innovative Industrial Properties and Lineage”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Innovative Industrial Properties	$265.95 million	5.90	$118.25 million	$4.41	12.91
Lineage	$5.36 billion	1.62	-$100.00 million	($0.72)	-53.01

Innovative Industrial Properties has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Lineage. Lineage is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Innovative Industrial Properties, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Innovative Industrial Properties beats Lineage on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Innovative Industrial Properties

Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. is a self-advised Maryland corporation focused on the acquisition, ownership and management of specialized properties leased to experienced, state-licensed operators for their regulated cannabis facilities. Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust, commencing with the year ended December 31, 2017.

About Lineage

Lineage, Inc. is the world’s largest global temperature-controlled warehouse REIT with a network of over 480 strategically located facilities totaling over 84.1 million square feet and 3.0 billion cubic feet of capacity across countries in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Coupling end-to-end supply chain solutions and technology, Lineage partners with some of the world’s largest food and beverage producers, retailers, and distributors to help increase distribution efficiency, advance sustainability, minimize supply chain waste, and, most importantly, feed the world.