Comparing Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD) and Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) and Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability and valuation.

Dividends

Equity Residential pays an annual dividend of $2.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Americold Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Equity Residential pays out 110.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Americold Realty Trust pays out -87.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Americold Realty Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Equity Residential and Americold Realty Trust”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Equity Residential	$2.87 billion	9.72	$835.44 million	$2.44	30.16
Americold Realty Trust	$2.67 billion	2.32	-$336.21 million	($1.01)	-21.63

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

Volatility and Risk

Equity Residential has a beta of 0.9, indicating that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Americold Realty Trust has a beta of 0.61, indicating that its stock price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Equity Residential and Americold Realty Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Equity Residential	0	11	8	0	2.42
Americold Realty Trust	0	2	9	0	2.82

Equity Residential currently has a consensus price target of $77.25, suggesting a potential upside of 4.97%. Americold Realty Trust has a consensus price target of $30.73, suggesting a potential upside of 40.63%. Given Americold Realty Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Americold Realty Trust is more favorable than Equity Residential.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

92.7% of Equity Residential shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.1% of Americold Realty Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Equity Residential shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Americold Realty Trust shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Equity Residential and Americold Realty Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Equity Residential	31.57%	8.31%	4.61%
Americold Realty Trust	-10.63%	-8.08%	-3.64%

Summary

Equity Residential beats Americold Realty Trust on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Equity Residential

Equity Residential is committed to creating communities where people thrive. The Company, a member of the S&P 500, is focused on the acquisition, development and management of residential properties located in and around dynamic cities that attract affluent long-term renters. Equity Residential owns or has investments in 305 properties consisting of 80,683 apartment units, with an established presence in Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., Seattle, San Francisco and Southern California, and an expanding presence in Denver, Atlanta, Dallas/Ft. Worth and Austin.

About Americold Realty Trust

Americold is a global leader in temperature-controlled logistics real estate and value added services. Focused on the ownership, operation, acquisition and development of temperature-controlled warehouses, Americold owns and/or operates 245 temperature-controlled warehouses, with approximately 1.5 billion refrigerated cubic feet of storage, in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and South America. Americold's facilities are an integral component of the supply chain connecting food producers, processors, distributors and retailers to consumers.