Reviewing First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey (OTCMKTS:FREVS) & BRT Apartments (NYSE:BRT)

BRT Apartments (NYSE:BRT) and First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey (OTCMKTS:FREVS) are both real estate companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, valuation, profitability and institutional ownership.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

29.1% of BRT Apartments shares are held by institutional investors. 42.2% of BRT Apartments shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 12.0% of First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for BRT Apartments and First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BRT Apartments	1	1	3	0	2.40
First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey	0	0	0	0	0.00

BRT Apartments presently has a consensus price target of $19.75, indicating a potential upside of 37.31%. Given BRT Apartments’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe BRT Apartments is more favorable than First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey.

Profitability

This table compares BRT Apartments and First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BRT Apartments	-13.22%	-7.46%	-1.84%
First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey	N/A	N/A	N/A

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares BRT Apartments and First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
BRT Apartments	$97.03 million	2.79	-$11.95 million	($0.70)	-20.55
First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey	N/A	N/A	N/A	$1.69	12.63

First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey has lower revenue, but higher earnings than BRT Apartments. BRT Apartments is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

BRT Apartments pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.0%. First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey pays an annual dividend of $1.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.3%. BRT Apartments pays out -142.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey pays out 92.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Summary

BRT Apartments beats First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About BRT Apartments

BRT Apartments Corp. is a real estate investment trust. It engages in the ownership, operation, and holding interests in joint ventures that own and operate multi-family properties. The company was founded in June 1972 and is headquartered in Great Neck, NY.

About First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey

First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey, Inc. is a publicly traded (over-the-counter symbol FREVS) REIT organized in 1961. Its portfolio of residential and commercial properties are located in New Jersey and New York, with the largest concentration in northern New Jersey.