Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) & Acadia Realty Trust (NYSE:AKR) Head-To-Head Review

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) and Acadia Realty Trust (NYSE:AKR) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation and profitability.

Dividends

Lamar Advertising pays an annual dividend of $5.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. Acadia Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Lamar Advertising pays out 115.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Acadia Realty Trust pays out 950.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Lamar Advertising is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Volatility & Risk

Lamar Advertising has a beta of 1.52, indicating that its share price is 52% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Acadia Realty Trust has a beta of 1.47, indicating that its share price is 47% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Lamar Advertising and Acadia Realty Trust, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lamar Advertising	0	4	1	0	2.20
Acadia Realty Trust	0	3	2	0	2.40

Lamar Advertising currently has a consensus target price of $125.00, indicating a potential downside of 6.40%. Acadia Realty Trust has a consensus target price of $20.80, indicating a potential downside of 8.41%. Given Lamar Advertising’s higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Lamar Advertising is more favorable than Acadia Realty Trust.

Profitability

This table compares Lamar Advertising and Acadia Realty Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lamar Advertising	23.34%	42.18%	7.69%
Acadia Realty Trust	0.20%	0.03%	0.02%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

93.8% of Lamar Advertising shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.7% of Acadia Realty Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 15.0% of Lamar Advertising shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.8% of Acadia Realty Trust shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Lamar Advertising and Acadia Realty Trust”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lamar Advertising	$2.16 billion	6.32	$495.76 million	$4.87	27.42
Acadia Realty Trust	$345.52 million	6.78	$19.87 million	$0.08	283.88

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

Summary

Lamar Advertising beats Acadia Realty Trust on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lamar Advertising

Lamar Advertising Company operates as an outdoor advertising company in the United States and Canada. The company owns and operates billboards, logo signs, and transit advertising displays, as well as rents space for advertising on billboards, buses, shelters, benches, logo plates, and in airport terminals. Lamar Advertising Company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

About Acadia Realty Trust

Acadia Realty Trust is an equity real estate investment trust focused on delivering long-term, profitable growth via its dual Core Portfolio and Fund operating platforms and its disciplined, location-driven investment strategy. Acadia Realty Trust is accomplishing this goal by building a best-in-class core real estate portfolio with meaningful concentrations of assets in the nation's most dynamic corridors; making profitable opportunistic and value-add investments through its series of discretionary, institutional funds; and maintaining a strong balance sheet.