Head to Head Contrast: Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD) & Global Net Lease (NYSE:GNL)

Global Net Lease (NYSE:GNL) and Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends and earnings.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

61.2% of Global Net Lease shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.1% of Americold Realty Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of Global Net Lease shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Americold Realty Trust 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 Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Global Net Lease and Americold Realty Trust, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Global Net Lease	0	1	5	0	2.83
Americold Realty Trust	2	9	3	0	2.07

Global Net Lease currently has a consensus price target of $9.60, suggesting a potential upside of 0.26%. Americold Realty Trust has a consensus price target of $13.92, suggesting a potential upside of 5.55%. Given Americold Realty Trust’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Americold Realty Trust is more favorable than Global Net Lease.

Dividends

Global Net Lease pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.9%. Americold Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.0%. Global Net Lease pays out -53.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Americold Realty Trust pays out -418.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Americold Realty Trust has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Global Net Lease and Americold Realty Trust”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Global Net Lease	$805.01 million	2.61	-$131.57 million	($1.43)	-6.70
Americold Realty Trust	$2.67 billion	1.41	-$94.31 million	($0.22)	-59.93

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

Risk and Volatility

Global Net Lease has a beta of 1.13, meaning that its stock price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Americold Realty Trust has a beta of 0.91, meaning that its stock price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Global Net Lease and Americold Realty Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Global Net Lease	-48.52%	-10.27%	-3.49%
Americold Realty Trust	-2.39%	-1.96%	-0.79%

Summary

Americold Realty Trust beats Global Net Lease on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Global Net Lease

Global Net Lease, Inc. (NYSE: GNL) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust listed on the NYSE. The firm focused on acquiring a diversified global portfolio of commercial properties, with an emphasis on sale-leaseback transactions involving single tenant, mission critical income producing net-leased assets across the United States, Western and Northern Europe.

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.