City Office REIT (NYSE:CIO – Get Free Report) and LXP Industrial Trust (NYSE:LXP – Get Free Report) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation and dividends.
Insider & Institutional Ownership
67.5% of City Office REIT shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.5% of LXP Industrial Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 3.9% of City Office REIT shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.2% of LXP Industrial Trust shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Profitability
This table compares City Office REIT and LXP Industrial Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| City Office REIT | -1.50% | -0.40% | -0.17% |
| LXP Industrial Trust | 8.92% | 1.37% | 0.76% |
Risk and Volatility
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for City Office REIT and LXP Industrial Trust, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| City Office REIT | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.00 |
| LXP Industrial Trust | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 |
City Office REIT presently has a consensus target price of $7.00, suggesting a potential upside of 52.84%. LXP Industrial Trust has a consensus target price of $11.00, suggesting a potential upside of 29.64%. Given City Office REIT’s higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe City Office REIT is more favorable than LXP Industrial Trust.
Dividends
City Office REIT pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.7%. LXP Industrial Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.1%. City Office REIT pays out -160.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. LXP Industrial Trust pays out 650.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. LXP Industrial Trust has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years. City Office REIT is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares City Office REIT and LXP Industrial Trust’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| City Office REIT | $179.10 million | 1.03 | -$2.68 million | ($0.25) | -18.32 |
| LXP Industrial Trust | $340.50 million | 7.33 | $30.38 million | $0.08 | 106.08 |
LXP Industrial Trust has higher revenue and earnings than City Office REIT. City Office REIT is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than LXP Industrial Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
LXP Industrial Trust beats City Office REIT on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
About City Office REIT
City Office REIT is an internally-managed real estate company focused on acquiring, owning and operating high-quality office properties located predominantly in Sun Belt markets. City Office currently owns or has a controlling interest in 5.7 million square feet of office properties. The Company has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust for U.S. federal income tax purposes.
About LXP Industrial Trust
LXP Industrial Trust (NYSE: LXP) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on single-tenant industrial real estate investments across the United States. LXP seeks to expand its industrial portfolio through acquisitions, build-to-suit transactions, sale-leaseback transactions, development projects and other transactions.
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