Comparing SL Green Realty (NYSE:SLG) & W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC)

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) and SL Green Realty (NYSE:SLG) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, risk, dividends, earnings and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares W. P. Carey and SL Green Realty’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
W. P. Carey	34.83%	6.50%	3.18%
SL Green Realty	-19.31%	-3.92%	-1.60%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for W. P. Carey and SL Green Realty, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
W. P. Carey	0	7	2	0	2.22
SL Green Realty	2	9	2	0	2.00

W. P. Carey currently has a consensus target price of $61.13, suggesting a potential downside of 2.57%. SL Green Realty has a consensus target price of $59.64, suggesting a potential downside of 14.18%. Given W. P. Carey’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe W. P. Carey is more favorable than SL Green Realty.

Risk & Volatility

W. P. Carey has a beta of 0.94, indicating that its stock price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SL Green Realty has a beta of 1.83, indicating that its stock price is 83% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares W. P. Carey and SL Green Realty”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
W. P. Carey	$1.64 billion	8.37	$708.33 million	$2.63	23.86
SL Green Realty	$913.71 million	4.95	-$557.30 million	($8.26)	-8.41

W. P. Carey has higher revenue and earnings than SL Green Realty. SL Green Realty is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than W. P. Carey, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

W. P. Carey pays an annual dividend of $3.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.6%. SL Green Realty pays an annual dividend of $3.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. W. P. Carey pays out 133.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. SL Green Realty pays out -36.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

73.7% of W. P. Carey shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.0% of SL Green Realty shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of W. P. Carey shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.1% of SL Green Realty shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

W. P. Carey beats SL Green Realty on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About W. P. Carey

W. P. Carey ranks among the largest net lease REITs with a well-diversified portfolio of high-quality, operationally critical commercial real estate, which includes 1,424 net lease properties covering approximately 173 million square feet and a portfolio of 89 self-storage operating properties as of December 31, 2023. With offices in New York, London, Amsterdam and Dallas, the company remains focused on investing primarily in single-tenant, industrial, warehouse and retail properties located in the U.S. and Northern and Western Europe, under long-term net leases with built-in rent escalations.

About SL Green Realty

3SL Green Realty Corp., Manhattan’s largest office landlord, is a fully integrated real estate investment trust, or REIT, that is focused primarily on acquiring, managing and maximizing value of Manhattan commercial properties. As of June 30, 2022, SL Green held interests in 64 buildings totaling 34.4 million square feet. This included ownership interests in 26.3 million square feet of Manhattan buildings and 7.2 million square feet securing debt and preferred equity investments.