Head-To-Head Contrast: Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD) & SITE Centers (NYSE:SITC)

SITE Centers (NYSE:SITC) and Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, profitability and valuation.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SITE Centers	164.10%	34.20%	19.41%
Americold Realty Trust	-3.54%	-2.70%	-1.21%

Volatility & Risk

SITE Centers has a beta of 1.3, meaning that its stock price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Americold Realty Trust has a beta of 0.77, meaning that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares SITE Centers and Americold Realty Trust”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
SITE Centers	$277.47 million	2.24	$265.70 million	$9.74	1.22
Americold Realty Trust	$2.67 billion	2.16	-$336.21 million	($0.34)	-59.49

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for SITE Centers and Americold Realty Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SITE Centers	0	7	2	0	2.22
Americold Realty Trust	0	2	9	0	2.82

SITE Centers currently has a consensus price target of $35.25, suggesting a potential upside of 197.19%. Americold Realty Trust has a consensus price target of $28.00, suggesting a potential upside of 38.44%. Given SITE Centers’ higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe SITE Centers is more favorable than Americold Realty Trust.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

88.7% of SITE Centers shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.1% of Americold Realty Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 10.1% of SITE Centers shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Americold Realty Trust shares are held 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.

Dividends

SITE Centers pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. Americold Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.5%. SITE Centers pays out 5.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Americold Realty Trust pays out -270.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Americold Realty Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

SITE Centers beats Americold Realty Trust on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About SITE Centers

SITE Centers is an owner and manager of open-air shopping centers located in suburban, high household income communities. The Company is a self-administered and self-managed REIT operating as a fully integrated real estate company, and is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol SITC.

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.