Analyzing Rexford Industrial Realty (NYSE:REXR) and Lineage (NASDAQ:LINE)

Lineage (NASDAQ:LINE) and Rexford Industrial Realty (NYSE:REXR) are both mid-cap real estate companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, earnings and valuation.

Volatility & Risk

Lineage has a beta of 0.82, indicating that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Rexford Industrial Realty has a beta of 1.18, indicating that its stock price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Lineage pays an annual dividend of $2.13 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.6%. Rexford Industrial Realty pays an annual dividend of $1.74 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.6%. Lineage pays out -295.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Rexford Industrial Realty pays out -96.1% 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. Rexford Industrial Realty has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Lineage is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Lineage and Rexford Industrial Realty”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lineage	$5.36 billion	1.61	-$100.00 million	($0.72)	-52.67
Rexford Industrial Realty	$1.00 billion	8.44	$212.03 million	($1.81)	-20.97

Rexford Industrial Realty has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Lineage. Lineage is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Rexford Industrial Realty, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Lineage and Rexford Industrial Realty, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lineage	3	9	5	0	2.12
Rexford Industrial Realty	4	6	5	0	2.07

Lineage presently has a consensus target price of $44.20, suggesting a potential upside of 16.55%. Rexford Industrial Realty has a consensus target price of $41.00, suggesting a potential upside of 8.04%. Given Lineage’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Lineage is more favorable than Rexford Industrial Realty.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

99.5% of Rexford Industrial Realty shares are held by institutional investors. 71.6% of Lineage shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.8% of Rexford Industrial Realty shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Lineage and Rexford Industrial Realty’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lineage	-3.15%	-1.85%	-0.89%
Rexford Industrial Realty	-39.22%	-4.61%	-3.14%

Summary

Lineage beats Rexford Industrial Realty on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lineage

Lineage, Inc. is the world’s largest global temperature-controlled warehouse REIT with a network of over 480 strategically located facilities totaling over 84.1 million square feet and 3.0 billion cubic feet of capacity across countries in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Coupling end-to-end supply chain solutions and technology, Lineage partners with some of the world’s largest food and beverage producers, retailers, and distributors to help increase distribution efficiency, advance sustainability, minimize supply chain waste, and, most importantly, feed the world.

About Rexford Industrial Realty

Rexford Industrial Realty, Inc. is a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust, which engages in owning and operating industrial properties in infill markets. The company was founded by Richard S. Ziman on January 18, 2013 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, CA.