Analyzing Farmland Partners (NYSE:FPI) & Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) and Farmland Partners (NYSE:FPI) are both real estate companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability and dividends.

Dividends

Equinix pays an annual dividend of $20.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Farmland Partners pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Equinix pays out 132.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Farmland Partners pays out 70.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Equinix has increased its dividend for 10 consecutive years. Farmland Partners is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Equinix and Farmland Partners, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Equinix	0	4	21	2	2.93
Farmland Partners	0	4	0	0	2.00

Equinix presently has a consensus price target of $1,203.40, indicating a potential upside of 15.83%. Given Equinix’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Equinix is more favorable than Farmland Partners.

Risk and Volatility

Equinix has a beta of 0.99, meaning that its stock price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Farmland Partners has a beta of 0.67, meaning that its stock price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

94.9% of Equinix shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 58.0% of Farmland Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Equinix shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 7.9% of Farmland Partners 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.

Profitability

This table compares Equinix and Farmland Partners’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Equinix	15.64%	10.76%	3.83%
Farmland Partners	49.85%	5.54%	3.58%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Equinix and Farmland Partners”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Equinix	$9.22 billion	11.12	$1.35 billion	$15.53	66.90
Farmland Partners	$52.18 million	8.67	$31.55 million	$0.51	20.34

Equinix has higher revenue and earnings than Farmland Partners. Farmland Partners is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Equinix, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Equinix beats Farmland Partners on 14 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Equinix

Equinix (Nasdaq: EQIX) is the world's digital infrastructure company . Digital leaders harness Equinix's trusted platform to bring together and interconnect foundational infrastructure at software speed. Equinix enables organizations to access all the right places, partners and possibilities to scale with agility, speed the launch of digital services, deliver world-class experiences and multiply their value, while supporting their sustainability goals.

About Farmland Partners

Farmland Partners Inc. is an internally managed real estate company that owns and seeks to acquire high-quality North American farmland and makes loans to farmers secured by farm real estate. As of December 31, 2023, the Company owns and/or manages approximately 171,100 acres in 16 states, including Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas. In addition, the Company owns land and buildings for four agriculture equipment dealerships in Ohio leased to Ag Pro under the John Deere brand. The Company has approximately 26 crop types and over 100 tenants. The Company elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust, or REIT, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, commencing with the taxable year ended December 31, 2014.