Critical Analysis: Ashford Hospitality Trust (NYSE:AHT) vs. COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP)

Ashford Hospitality Trust (NYSE:AHT) and COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, earnings, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Dividends

Ashford Hospitality Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 29.7%. COPT Defense Properties pays an annual dividend of $1.18 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Ashford Hospitality Trust pays out -7.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. COPT Defense Properties pays out -109.3% 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.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Ashford Hospitality Trust and COPT Defense Properties”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ashford Hospitality Trust	$1.28 billion	0.03	-$178.49 million	($3.17)	-0.25
COPT Defense Properties	$684.98 million	4.95	-$73.47 million	($1.08)	-27.87

COPT Defense Properties has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Ashford Hospitality Trust. COPT Defense Properties is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ashford Hospitality Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Ashford Hospitality Trust and COPT Defense Properties, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ashford Hospitality Trust	0	1	0	0	2.00
COPT Defense Properties	0	3	5	0	2.63

Ashford Hospitality Trust presently has a consensus price target of $2.50, indicating a potential upside of 209.48%. COPT Defense Properties has a consensus price target of $30.00, indicating a potential downside of 0.33%. Given Ashford Hospitality Trust’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Ashford Hospitality Trust is more favorable than COPT Defense Properties.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

41.0% of Ashford Hospitality Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.2% of Ashford Hospitality Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of COPT Defense Properties shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

Ashford Hospitality Trust has a beta of 2.35, meaning that its share price is 135% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, COPT Defense Properties has a beta of 0.99, meaning that its share price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Ashford Hospitality Trust and COPT Defense Properties’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ashford Hospitality Trust	2.25%	-10.52%	0.82%
COPT Defense Properties	-15.75%	-7.52%	-2.71%

Summary

Ashford Hospitality Trust beats COPT Defense Properties on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ashford Hospitality Trust

Ashford Hospitality Trust is a real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on investing predominantly in upper upscale, full-service hotels.

About COPT Defense Properties

COPT Defense, an S&P MidCap 400 Company, is a self-managed REIT focused on owning, operating and developing properties in locations proximate to, or sometimes containing, key U.S. Government (USG) defense installations and missions (referred to as its Defense/IT Portfolio). The Company's tenants include the USG and their defense contractors, who are primarily engaged in priority national security activities, and who generally require mission-critical and high security property enhancements. As of December 31, 2023, the Company's Defense/IT Portfolio of 190 properties, including 24 owned through unconsolidated joint ventures, encompassed 21.7 million square feet and was 97.2% leased.