One Liberty Properties (NYSE:OLP – Get Free Report) and American Tower (NYSE:AMT – Get Free Report) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and valuation.
Volatility and Risk
One Liberty Properties has a beta of 1.36, suggesting that its share price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Tower has a beta of 0.84, suggesting that its share price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares One Liberty Properties and American Tower’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| One Liberty Properties | 38.96% | 11.35% | 4.58% |
| American Tower | 10.05% | 22.01% | 3.55% |
Analyst Ratings
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| One Liberty Properties | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 |
| American Tower | 0 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 2.85 |
One Liberty Properties presently has a consensus target price of $28.00, indicating a potential downside of 1.69%. American Tower has a consensus target price of $235.54, indicating a potential upside of 17.25%. Given American Tower’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe American Tower is more favorable than One Liberty Properties.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares One Liberty Properties and American Tower”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| One Liberty Properties | $90.65 million | 6.72 | $29.61 million | $1.62 | 17.58 |
| American Tower | $11.17 billion | 8.41 | $1.48 billion | $2.37 | 84.76 |
American Tower has higher revenue and earnings than One Liberty Properties. One Liberty Properties is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than American Tower, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
36.2% of One Liberty Properties shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.7% of American Tower shares are held by institutional investors. 25.4% of One Liberty Properties shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of American Tower shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Dividends
One Liberty Properties pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.3%. American Tower pays an annual dividend of $6.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. One Liberty Properties pays out 111.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. American Tower pays out 273.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. One Liberty Properties is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Summary
American Tower beats One Liberty Properties on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
About One Liberty Properties
One Liberty is a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust incorporated in Maryland in 1982. The Company acquires, owns and manages a geographically diversified portfolio consisting primarily of industrial and retail properties. Many of these properties are subject to long-term net leases under which the tenant is typically responsible for the property’s real estate taxes, insurance and ordinary maintenance and repairs.
About American Tower
American Tower, one of the largest global REITs, is a leading independent owner, operator and developer of multitenant communications real estate with a portfolio of over 224,000 communications sites and a highly interconnected footprint of U.S. data center facilities.
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