Head to Head Review: LXP Industrial Trust (NYSE:LXP) vs. Sun Communities (NYSE:SUI)

Sun Communities (NYSE:SUI) and LXP Industrial Trust (NYSE:LXP) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, profitability and institutional ownership.

Dividends

Sun Communities pays an annual dividend of $4.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. LXP Industrial Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Sun Communities pays out 52.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. LXP Industrial Trust pays out 29.5% 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. Sun Communities has raised its dividend for 8 consecutive years and LXP Industrial Trust has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years. Sun Communities is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

99.6% of Sun Communities shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.5% of LXP Industrial Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.8% of Sun Communities shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.6% of LXP Industrial Trust shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Sun Communities and LXP Industrial Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sun Communities	42.58%	-4.53%	-2.29%
LXP Industrial Trust	32.19%	5.86%	3.12%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Sun Communities and LXP Industrial Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sun Communities	1	7	6	0	2.36
LXP Industrial Trust	0	3	4	0	2.57

Sun Communities currently has a consensus price target of $137.46, indicating a potential upside of 6.73%. LXP Industrial Trust has a consensus price target of $54.00, indicating a potential upside of 12.15%. Given LXP Industrial Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe LXP Industrial Trust is more favorable than Sun Communities.

Risk & Volatility

Sun Communities has a beta of 0.9, meaning that its share price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LXP Industrial Trust has a beta of 1.1, meaning that its share price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Sun Communities and LXP Industrial Trust”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sun Communities	$3.22 billion	4.94	$101.80 million	$7.98	16.14
LXP Industrial Trust	$358.46 million	7.95	$44.53 million	$1.90	25.34

Sun Communities has higher revenue and earnings than LXP Industrial Trust. Sun Communities is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than LXP Industrial Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

LXP Industrial Trust beats Sun Communities on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sun Communities

Established in 1975, Sun Communities, Inc. became a publicly owned corporation in December 1993. The Company is a fully integrated REIT listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol: SUI. As of December 31, 2023, the Company owned, operated, or had an interest in a portfolio of 667 developed MH, RV and Marina properties comprising 179,310 developed sites and approximately 48,030 wet slips and dry storage spaces in the U.S., the UK and Canada.

About LXP Industrial Trust

LXP Industrial Trust (NYSE: LXP) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on single-tenant industrial real estate investments across the United States. LXP seeks to expand its industrial portfolio through acquisitions, build-to-suit transactions, sale-leaseback transactions, development projects and other transactions.