Contrasting Gladstone Land (LAND) & The Competition

Gladstone Land (NASDAQ:LAND) is one of 35 public companies in the “Specialized REITs” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare Gladstone Land to related businesses based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, dividends, risk, profitability and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Gladstone Land and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Gladstone Land	-7.31%	-0.96%	-0.53%
Gladstone Land Competitors	-5.31%	-3.47%	1.99%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Gladstone Land and its competitors revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Gladstone Land	$88.34 million	$13.53 million	-12.51
Gladstone Land Competitors	$2.58 billion	$596.00 million	31.83

Gladstone Land’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Gladstone Land. Gladstone Land is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Dividends

Gladstone Land pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.1%. Gladstone Land pays out -101.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Specialized REITs” companies pay a dividend yield of 3.3% and pay out 119.8% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Gladstone Land has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Gladstone Land is clearly a better dividend stock than its competitors, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Gladstone Land and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Gladstone Land	1	2	0	1	2.25
Gladstone Land Competitors	520	2788	3668	191	2.49

Gladstone Land currently has a consensus price target of $10.00, indicating a potential upside of 45.35%. As a group, “Specialized REITs” companies have a potential upside of 12.64%. Given Gladstone Land’s higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Gladstone Land is more favorable than its competitors.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

53.6% of Gladstone Land shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.0% of shares of all “Specialized REITs” companies are owned by institutional investors. 6.1% of Gladstone Land shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 7.5% of shares of all “Specialized REITs” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

Gladstone Land has a beta of 1.17, meaning that its share price is 17% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Gladstone Land’s competitors have a beta of 0.92, meaning that their average share price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Gladstone Land competitors beat Gladstone Land on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

Gladstone Land Company Profile

Gladstone Land Corporation is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns and leases farmland. The company focuses primarily on high-quality agricultural properties that produce specialty crops, such as fruits, vegetables, nuts and vineyards, as well as annual row crops. Gladstone Land generally leases its properties to experienced farmers and agricultural operators under long-term, often triple-net lease agreements. These arrangements typically make tenants responsible for property operating expenses, while the company seeks to generate rental income from a diversified portfolio of farmland.