Orion Office REIT (NYSE:ONL) versus Ventas (NYSE:VTR) Critical Comparison

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) and Orion Office REIT (NYSE:ONL) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Ventas and Orion Office REIT, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ventas	0	3	15	1	2.89
Orion Office REIT	1	2	0	0	1.67

Ventas presently has a consensus target price of $80.65, suggesting a potential upside of 6.66%. Given Ventas’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Ventas is more favorable than Orion Office REIT.

Dividends

Ventas pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Orion Office REIT pays an annual dividend of $0.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Ventas pays out 369.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Orion Office REIT pays out -3.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ventas has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Orion Office REIT is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

94.2% of Ventas shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.9% of Orion Office REIT shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Ventas shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Orion Office REIT shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Ventas has a beta of 0.78, suggesting that its share price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Orion Office REIT has a beta of 1.4, suggesting that its share price is 40% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Ventas and Orion Office REIT”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ventas	$4.92 billion	7.21	$81.15 million	$0.52	145.41
Orion Office REIT	$150.79 million	0.79	-$103.01 million	($2.44)	-0.87

Ventas has higher revenue and earnings than Orion Office REIT. Orion Office REIT is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ventas, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Ventas and Orion Office REIT’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ventas	4.28%	2.05%	0.90%
Orion Office REIT	-90.36%	-18.73%	-10.53%

Summary

Ventas beats Orion Office REIT on 15 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ventas

Ventas Inc. (NYSE: VTR) is a leading S&P 500 real estate investment trust focused on delivering strong, sustainable shareholder returns by enabling exceptional environments that benefit a large and growing aging population. The Company's growth is fueled by its senior housing communities, which provide valuable services to residents and enable them to thrive in supported environments. Ventas leverages its unmatched operational expertise, data-driven insights from its Ventas Operational InsightsTM platform, extensive relationships and strong financial position to achieve its goal of delivering outsized performance across approximately 1,400 properties. The Ventas portfolio is composed of senior housing communities, outpatient medical buildings, research centers and healthcare facilities in North America and the United Kingdom. The Company benefits from a seasoned team of talented professionals who share a commitment to excellence, integrity and a common purpose of helping people live longer, healthier, happier lives.

About Orion Office REIT

Orion Office REIT specializes in the ownership, acquisition and management of a diversified portfolio of mission-critical and corporate headquarters office buildings in high-quality suburban markets across the U.S. The portfolio is leased primarily on a single-tenant net lease basis to creditworthy tenants. The company's team of experienced industry leaders employs a proven, cycle-tested investment evaluation framework which serves as the lens through which capital allocation decisions are made for the current portfolio and future acquisitions.