Reviewing Impac Mortgage (NYSE:IMH) & Chatham Lodging Trust (NYSE:CLDT)

Impac Mortgage (NYSE:IMH) and Chatham Lodging Trust (NYSE:CLDT) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation and earnings.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Impac Mortgage and Chatham Lodging Trust”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Impac Mortgage	$8.60 million	0.18	-$39.43 million	($1.71)	-0.03
Chatham Lodging Trust	$314.38 million	1.51	$2.64 million	($0.23)	-42.22

Chatham Lodging Trust has higher revenue and earnings than Impac Mortgage. Chatham Lodging Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Impac Mortgage, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Impac Mortgage and Chatham Lodging Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Impac Mortgage	N/A	-1,309.14%	-37.12%
Chatham Lodging Trust	-0.99%	-0.39%	-0.24%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Impac Mortgage and Chatham Lodging Trust, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Impac Mortgage	0	0	0	0	0.00
Chatham Lodging Trust	0	0	2	0	3.00

Chatham Lodging Trust has a consensus price target of $12.00, suggesting a potential upside of 23.58%. Given Chatham Lodging Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Chatham Lodging Trust is more favorable than Impac Mortgage.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

12.5% of Impac Mortgage shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 88.4% of Chatham Lodging Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.8% of Impac Mortgage shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 6.5% of Chatham Lodging Trust shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Impac Mortgage has a beta of 0.9, suggesting that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Chatham Lodging Trust has a beta of 1.82, suggesting that its stock price is 82% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Chatham Lodging Trust beats Impac Mortgage on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Impac Mortgage

Impac Mortgage Holdings, Inc. engages in the provision of mortgage and real estate solutions. It operates through the following segments: Mortgage Lending, Real Estate Services, and Long-Term Mortgage Portfolio. The Mortgage Lending segment offers mortgage lending products through lending channels, retail, wholesale, and correspondent, and retains mortgage servicing rights and warehouse lending facilities. The Real Estate Services segment performs servicing and provides loss mitigation services for securitized long-term mortgage portfolio. The Long-Term Mortgage Portfolio segment is composed of residual interests in securitization trusts. The company was founded by Joseph R. Tomkinson in August 1995 and is headquartered in Newport Beach, CA.

About Chatham Lodging Trust

Chatham Lodging Trust is a self-advised, publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) focused primarily on investing in upscale, extended-stay hotels and premium-branded, select-service hotels. The company owns 39 hotels totaling 5,915 rooms/suites in 16 states and the District of Columbia.