Head-To-Head Analysis: Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust (OTCMKTS:MGRUF) versus Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT)

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) and Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust (OTCMKTS:MGRUF) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, profitability, risk and valuation.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Essential Properties Realty Trust and Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Essential Properties Realty Trust	$286.51 million	13.12	$134.13 million	$1.15	20.96
Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust	N/A	N/A	N/A	$2.03	2.00

Essential Properties Realty Trust has higher revenue and earnings than Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust. Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Essential Properties Realty Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Essential Properties Realty Trust and Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Essential Properties Realty Trust	0	0	5	0	3.00
Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust	0	0	0	0	N/A

Essential Properties Realty Trust currently has a consensus price target of $26.66, indicating a potential upside of 10.61%. Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust has a consensus price target of $5.25, indicating a potential upside of 29.26%. Given Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust is more favorable than Essential Properties Realty Trust.

Profitability

This table compares Essential Properties Realty Trust and Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Essential Properties Realty Trust	53.14%	6.42%	4.11%
Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust	N/A	N/A	N/A

Insider & Institutional Ownership

97.0% of Essential Properties Realty Trust shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.6% of Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of Essential Properties Realty Trust shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Essential Properties Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.6%. Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 21.7%. Essential Properties Realty Trust pays out 97.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust pays out 43.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Essential Properties Realty Trust has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years. Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Essential Properties Realty Trust beats Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Essential Properties Realty Trust

Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc., a real estate company, acquires, owns, and manages single-tenant properties in the United States. The company leases its properties to middle-market companies, such as restaurants, car washes, automotive services, medical and dental services, convenience stores, equipment rental, entertainment, early childhood education, grocery, and health and fitness on a long-term basis. As of December 31, 2021, it had a portfolio of 1, 451 properties. The company qualifies as a real estate investment trust for federal income tax purposes. It generally would not be subject to federal corporate income taxes if it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to its stockholders. The company was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey.

About Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust

The Trust is a closed-end real estate investment trust, which owns a diversified portfolio of 46 retail, office and industrial income producing properties in Canada with a book value of $2.4 billion and approximately 8.2 million square feet of leasable space.