Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD) and EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) Financial Comparison

Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD) and EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) are both real estate companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, valuation, risk and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares Americold Realty Trust and EastGroup Properties’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Americold Realty Trust	-17.44%	-16.14%	-5.68%
EastGroup Properties	40.47%	8.61%	5.59%

Dividends

Americold Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.6%. EastGroup Properties pays an annual dividend of $7.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Americold Realty Trust pays out -57.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. EastGroup Properties pays out 122.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Americold Realty Trust has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years and EastGroup Properties has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Americold Realty Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

98.1% of Americold Realty Trust shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.1% of EastGroup Properties shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Americold Realty Trust shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of EastGroup Properties shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Americold Realty Trust has a beta of 0.92, meaning that its stock price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, EastGroup Properties has a beta of 1, meaning that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Americold Realty Trust and EastGroup Properties, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Americold Realty Trust	2	9	5	0	2.19
EastGroup Properties	0	5	13	0	2.72

Americold Realty Trust currently has a consensus target price of $15.75, indicating a potential upside of 13.03%. EastGroup Properties has a consensus target price of $221.32, indicating a potential upside of 13.05%. Given EastGroup Properties’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe EastGroup Properties is more favorable than Americold Realty Trust.

Earnings & Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Americold Realty Trust	$2.61 billion	1.52	-$114.55 million	($1.59)	-8.76
EastGroup Properties	$753.19 million	13.98	$257.40 million	$5.70	34.35

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

Summary

EastGroup Properties beats Americold Realty Trust on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Americold Realty Trust

Americold Realty Trust, Inc. is a real estate investment trust, which focuses on the ownership, operation, development, and acquisition of temperature-controlled warehouses. It operates through the following segments: Warehouse, Third-Party Managed, Transportation, and Other. The Warehouse segment collects rent and storage fees from customers to store frozen and perishable food and other products within the firm’s real estate portfolio. The Third-Party Managed segment manages warehouses on behalf of third parties and provides warehouse management services to food retailers and manufacturers in customer-owned facilities. The Transportation segment is involved in brokering and managing transportation of frozen and perishable food and other products. The Other segment includes ownership in a limestone quarry in Carthage, Missouri. The company was founded in 1931 and is headquartered in Atlanta, GA.

About EastGroup Properties

EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE: EGP), a member of the S&P Mid-Cap 400 and Russell 1000 Indexes, is a self-administered equity real estate investment trust focused on the development, acquisition and operation of industrial properties in major Sunbelt markets throughout the United States with an emphasis in the states of Florida, Texas, Arizona, California and North Carolina. The Company's goal is to maximize shareholder value by being a leading provider in its markets of functional, flexible and quality business distribution space for location sensitive customers (primarily in the 20,000 to 100,000 square foot range). The Company's strategy for growth is based on ownership of premier distribution facilities generally clustered near major transportation features in supply-constrained submarkets. The Company's portfolio, including development projects and value-add acquisitions in lease-up and under construction, currently includes approximately 59 million square feet.