Head-To-Head Review: Orion Office REIT (NYSE:ONL) vs. Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) and Orion Office REIT (NYSE:ONL) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, profitability and valuation.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Equinix and Orion Office REIT”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Equinix	$8.19 billion	10.50	$969.18 million	$11.09	80.33
Orion Office REIT	$195.04 million	1.15	-$57.30 million	($1.65)	-2.42

Equinix has higher revenue and earnings than Orion Office REIT. Orion Office REIT is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Equinix, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

94.9% of Equinix shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.0% of Orion Office REIT shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Equinix shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Orion Office REIT shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Equinix has a beta of 0.71, indicating that its stock price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Orion Office REIT has a beta of 0.99, indicating that its stock price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Equinix and Orion Office REIT’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Equinix	12.29%	8.34%	3.18%
Orion Office REIT	-51.47%	-10.69%	-6.56%

Dividends

Equinix pays an annual dividend of $17.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Orion Office REIT pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.0%. Equinix pays out 153.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Orion Office REIT pays out -24.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Orion Office REIT is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Equinix and Orion Office REIT, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Equinix	0	5	14	1	2.80
Orion Office REIT	0	1	0	0	2.00

Equinix presently has a consensus target price of $944.63, indicating a potential upside of 6.04%. Given Equinix’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Equinix is more favorable than Orion Office REIT.

Summary

Equinix beats Orion Office REIT on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Equinix

Equinix (Nasdaq: EQIX) is the world's digital infrastructure company . Digital leaders harness Equinix's trusted platform to bring together and interconnect foundational infrastructure at software speed. Equinix enables organizations to access all the right places, partners and possibilities to scale with agility, speed the launch of digital services, deliver world-class experiences and multiply their value, while supporting their sustainability goals.

About Orion Office REIT

Orion Office REIT specializes in the ownership, acquisition and management of a diversified portfolio of mission-critical and corporate headquarters office buildings in high-quality suburban markets across the U.S. The portfolio is leased primarily on a single-tenant net lease basis to creditworthy tenants. The company's team of experienced industry leaders employs a proven, cycle-tested investment evaluation framework which serves as the lens through which capital allocation decisions are made for the current portfolio and future acquisitions.