Farmland Partners (NYSE:FPI) versus Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) Critical Survey

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) and Farmland Partners (NYSE:FPI) are both real estate companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership and valuation.

Volatility and Risk

Crown Castle has a beta of 0.95, meaning that its stock price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Farmland Partners has a beta of 0.67, meaning that its stock price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Crown Castle and Farmland Partners”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Crown Castle	$4.26 billion	7.73	$444.00 million	$1.97	38.33
Farmland Partners	$52.18 million	8.29	$31.55 million	$0.51	19.44

Crown Castle has higher revenue and earnings than Farmland Partners. Farmland Partners is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Crown Castle, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Crown Castle pays an annual dividend of $4.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.6%. Farmland Partners pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Crown Castle pays out 215.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Farmland Partners pays out 70.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

90.8% of Crown Castle shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 58.0% of Farmland Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of Crown Castle shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.9% of Farmland Partners shares are owned 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.

Profitability

This table compares Crown Castle and Farmland Partners’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Crown Castle	20.71%	-51.60%	3.70%
Farmland Partners	49.85%	5.54%	3.58%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Crown Castle and Farmland Partners, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Crown Castle	0	12	7	2	2.52
Farmland Partners	0	4	0	0	2.00

Crown Castle currently has a consensus target price of $95.13, indicating a potential upside of 25.98%. Given Crown Castle’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Crown Castle is more favorable than Farmland Partners.

Summary

Crown Castle beats Farmland Partners on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Crown Castle

Crown Castle owns, operates and leases more than 40,000 cell towers and approximately 90,000 route miles of fiber supporting small cells and fiber solutions across every major U.S. market. This nationwide portfolio of communications infrastructure connects cities and communities to essential data, technology and wireless service – bringing information, ideas and innovations to the people and businesses that need them.

About Farmland Partners

Farmland Partners Inc. is an internally managed real estate company that owns and seeks to acquire high-quality North American farmland and makes loans to farmers secured by farm real estate. As of December 31, 2023, the Company owns and/or manages approximately 171,100 acres in 16 states, including Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas. In addition, the Company owns land and buildings for four agriculture equipment dealerships in Ohio leased to Ag Pro under the John Deere brand. The Company has approximately 26 crop types and over 100 tenants. The Company elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust, or REIT, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, commencing with the taxable year ended December 31, 2014.