Critical Survey: Stag Industrial (NYSE:STAG) & CapitaLand Ascendas REIT (OTCMKTS:ACDSF)

Stag Industrial (NYSE:STAG) and CapitaLand Ascendas REIT (OTCMKTS:ACDSF) are both mid-cap real estate companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability and dividends.

Dividends

Stag Industrial pays an annual dividend of $1.55 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. CapitaLand Ascendas REIT pays an annual dividend of $0.14 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.4%. Stag Industrial pays out 119.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Stag Industrial has increased its dividend for 7 consecutive years.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Stag Industrial and CapitaLand Ascendas REIT”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Stag Industrial	$880.59 million	8.37	$273.52 million	$1.30	29.42
CapitaLand Ascendas REIT	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Stag Industrial has higher revenue and earnings than CapitaLand Ascendas REIT.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

88.7% of Stag Industrial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 34.2% of CapitaLand Ascendas REIT shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of Stag Industrial shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Stag Industrial and CapitaLand Ascendas REIT, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Stag Industrial	1	6	3	0	2.20
CapitaLand Ascendas REIT	0	0	0	0	0.00

Stag Industrial presently has a consensus price target of $50.50, indicating a potential upside of 32.05%. Given Stag Industrial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Stag Industrial is more favorable than CapitaLand Ascendas REIT.

Profitability

This table compares Stag Industrial and CapitaLand Ascendas REIT’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Stag Industrial	28.04%	6.79%	3.43%
CapitaLand Ascendas REIT	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Stag Industrial beats CapitaLand Ascendas REIT on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Stag Industrial

STAG Industrial, Inc. is a real estate investment company, which engages in acquiring, owning, and managing single-tenant, industrial real estate assets. It offers industrial real estate operating platform to real estate ownership. The company was founded by Benjamin S. Butcher on July 21, 2010 and is headquartered in Boston, MA.

About CapitaLand Ascendas REIT

CapitaLand Ascendas REIT (CLAR) is Singapore’s first and largest listed business space and industrial real estate investment trust. It was listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (SGX-ST) in November 2002. CLAR has since grown to be a global REIT anchored in Singapore, with a strong focus on tech and logistics properties in developed markets. As at 31 December 2023, its investment properties under management stood at S$16.9 billion. It owns a total of 232 properties across three segments, namely Business Space and Life Sciences; Logistics; and Industrial and Data Centres. These properties are in the developed markets of Singapore, the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom/Europe. These properties house a tenant base of approximately 1,790 international and local companies from a wide range of industries and activities, including data centres, information technology, engineering, logistics & supply chain management, biomedical sciences, financial services (backroom office support), electronics, government and other manufacturing and services industries. Major tenants include Singtel, DSO National Laboratories, SEA Group, Stripe, Entserve UK, DBS, Seagate, Citibank, Pinterest, and Equinix. CLAR is listed in several indices. These include the FTSE Straits Times Index, the Morgan Stanley Capital International, Inc (MSCI) Index, the European Public Real Estate Association/National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (EPRA/NAREIT) Global Real Estate Index and Global Property Research (GPR) Asia 250. CLAR has an issuer rating of A3′ by Moody’s Investors Service. CLAR is managed by CapitaLand Ascendas REIT Management Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of CapitaLand Investment Limited, a leading global real estate investment manager with a strong Asia foothold.