Sunstone Hotel Investors (NYSE:SHO) versus Sotherly Hotels (NASDAQ:SOHON) Critical Review

Sotherly Hotels (NASDAQ:SOHON) and Sunstone Hotel Investors (NYSE:SHO) are both real estate companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings and profitability.

Dividends

Sotherly Hotels pays an annual dividend of $2.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.0%. Sunstone Hotel Investors pays an annual dividend of $0.22 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Sunstone Hotel Investors pays out 52.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Sunstone Hotel Investors has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Sotherly Hotels and Sunstone Hotel Investors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sotherly Hotels	N/A	N/A	N/A
Sunstone Hotel Investors	10.13%	5.64%	3.31%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Sotherly Hotels and Sunstone Hotel Investors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sotherly Hotels	0	0	0	0	N/A
Sunstone Hotel Investors	4	4	0	0	1.50

Sunstone Hotel Investors has a consensus price target of $9.67, suggesting a potential upside of 2.29%. Given Sunstone Hotel Investors’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Sunstone Hotel Investors is more favorable than Sotherly Hotels.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Sotherly Hotels and Sunstone Hotel Investors’ gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sotherly Hotels	$173.06 million	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Sunstone Hotel Investors	$912.05 million	2.15	$87.29 million	$0.42	22.50

Sunstone Hotel Investors has higher revenue and earnings than Sotherly Hotels.

Summary

Sunstone Hotel Investors beats Sotherly Hotels on 6 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sotherly Hotels

Sotherly Hotels Inc. is a self-managed and self-administered lodging REIT focused on the acquisition, renovation, upbranding and repositioning of upscale to upper-upscale full-service hotels in the Southern United States. Sotherly may also opportunistically acquire hotels throughout the United States. Currently, the Company's portfolio consists of investments in ten hotel properties, comprising 2,786 rooms, as well as interests in two condominium hotels and their associated rental programs. The Company owns hotels that operate under the Hilton Worldwide and Hyatt Hotels Corporation brands, as well as independent hotels. Sotherly Hotels Inc. was organized in 2004 and is headquartered in Williamsburg, Virginia.

About Sunstone Hotel Investors

Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. is a lodging real estate investment trust ("REIT") that as of the date of this release owns 15 hotels comprised of 7,735 rooms, the majority of which are operated under nationally recognized brands. Sunstone's strategy is to create long-term stakeholder value through the acquisition, active ownership and disposition of hotels considered to be Long-Term Relevant Real Estate.