Prologis (NYSE:PLD) versus Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD) Financial Analysis

Prologis (NYSE:PLD) and Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD) are both real estate companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, earnings, risk and valuation.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

93.5% of Prologis shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.1% of Americold Realty Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of Prologis shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Americold Realty Trust shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

Prologis has a beta of 1.3, meaning that its share price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Americold Realty Trust has a beta of 0.98, meaning that its share price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Prologis and Americold Realty Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Prologis	45.79%	7.29%	4.25%
Americold Realty Trust	-17.44%	-16.14%	-5.68%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Prologis and Americold Realty Trust”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Prologis	$8.79 billion	14.39	$3.33 billion	$4.49	30.19
Americold Realty Trust	$2.60 billion	1.50	-$114.55 million	($1.59)	-8.61

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Prologis and Americold Realty Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Prologis	0	7	16	0	2.70
Americold Realty Trust	3	9	4	0	2.06

Prologis presently has a consensus price target of $154.52, suggesting a potential upside of 13.98%. Americold Realty Trust has a consensus price target of $15.63, suggesting a potential upside of 14.23%. Given Americold Realty Trust’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Americold Realty Trust is more favorable than Prologis.

Dividends

Prologis pays an annual dividend of $4.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Americold Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.7%. Prologis pays out 95.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Americold Realty Trust pays out -57.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Prologis has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years and Americold Realty Trust has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Americold Realty Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Prologis beats Americold Realty Trust on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Prologis

Prologis, Inc. is the global leader in logistics real estate with a focus on high-barrier, high-growth markets. At March 31, 2024, the company owned or had investments in, on a wholly owned basis or through co-investment ventures, properties and development projects expected to total approximately 1.2 billion square feet (115 million square meters) in 19 countries. Prologis leases modern logistics facilities to a diverse base of approximately 6,700 customers principally across two major categories: business-to-business and retail/online fulfillment.

About Americold Realty Trust

Americold Realty Trust, Inc. is a real estate investment trust, which focuses on the ownership, operation, development, and acquisition of temperature-controlled warehouses. It operates through the following segments: Warehouse, Third-Party Managed, Transportation, and Other. The Warehouse segment collects rent and storage fees from customers to store frozen and perishable food and other products within the firm’s real estate portfolio. The Third-Party Managed segment manages warehouses on behalf of third parties and provides warehouse management services to food retailers and manufacturers in customer-owned facilities. The Transportation segment is involved in brokering and managing transportation of frozen and perishable food and other products. The Other segment includes ownership in a limestone quarry in Carthage, Missouri. The company was founded in 1931 and is headquartered in Atlanta, GA.