Critical Contrast: Alexander’s (NYSE:ALX) and Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI)

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) and Alexander’s (NYSE:ALX) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, dividends and profitability.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

90.8% of Crown Castle shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 32.0% of Alexander’s shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Crown Castle shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 26.3% of Alexander’s shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Crown Castle and Alexander’s’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Crown Castle	10.41%	-76.56%	3.49%
Alexander’s	13.24%	20.68%	2.23%

Dividends

Crown Castle pays an annual dividend of $4.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.7%. Alexander’s pays an annual dividend of $18.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.6%. Crown Castle pays out 420.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Alexander’s pays out 327.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Alexander’s has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Alexander’s is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Risk and Volatility

Crown Castle has a beta of 0.96, meaning that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alexander’s has a beta of 0.82, meaning that its share price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Crown Castle and Alexander’s”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Crown Castle	$4.26 billion	9.16	$444.00 million	$1.01	88.66
Alexander’s	$213.18 million	5.64	$28.22 million	$5.49	42.87

Crown Castle has higher revenue and earnings than Alexander’s. Alexander’s is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Crown Castle, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Crown Castle and Alexander’s, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Crown Castle	1	9	9	1	2.50
Alexander’s	0	1	0	1	3.00

Crown Castle currently has a consensus price target of $100.02, indicating a potential upside of 11.71%. Given Crown Castle’s higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Crown Castle is more favorable than Alexander’s.

Summary

Crown Castle beats Alexander’s on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Crown Castle

Crown Castle owns, operates and leases more than 40,000 cell towers and approximately 90,000 route miles of fiber supporting small cells and fiber solutions across every major U.S. market. This nationwide portfolio of communications infrastructure connects cities and communities to essential data, technology and wireless service – bringing information, ideas and innovations to the people and businesses that need them.

About Alexander’s

Alexander’s, Inc. (NYSE: ALX) is a real estate investment trust (REIT), incorporated in Delaware, engaged in leasing, managing, developing and redeveloping its properties. All references to we, us, our, Company and Alexander’s refer to Alexander’s, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries. We are managed by, and our properties are leased and developed by, Vornado Realty Trust (Vornado) (NYSE: VNO). We have five properties in New York City.