Reviewing Farmland Partners (NYSE:FPI) and Rural Funds Group (OTC:RFNDF)

Rural Funds Group (OTC:RFNDF) and Farmland Partners (NYSE:FPI) are both real estate companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Rural Funds Group and Farmland Partners, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Rural Funds Group	0	0	0	0	N/A
Farmland Partners	0	0	2	0	3.00

Farmland Partners has a consensus price target of $15.00, suggesting a potential upside of 43.27%. Given Farmland Partners’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Farmland Partners is more favorable than Rural Funds Group.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

58.0% of Farmland Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. 9.5% of Farmland Partners shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Rural Funds Group and Farmland Partners’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Rural Funds Group	N/A	N/A	N/A
Farmland Partners	53.80%	5.70%	2.83%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Rural Funds Group and Farmland Partners’ revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Rural Funds Group	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Farmland Partners	$57.47 million	8.77	$30.91 million	$0.52	20.14

Farmland Partners has higher revenue and earnings than Rural Funds Group.

Summary

Farmland Partners beats Rural Funds Group on 8 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Rural Funds Group

Rural Funds Group is an agricultural Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) listed on the ASX under the code RFF. RFF owns a diversified portfolio of Australian agricultural assets which are leased predominantly to corporate agricultural operators. RFF targets distribution growth of 4% per annum by owning and improving farms that are leased to good counterparties. RFF is a stapled security, incorporating Rural Funds Trust (ARSN 112 951 578) and RF Active (ARSN 168 740 805).

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.