Critical Review: Brixmor Property Group (NYSE:BRX) vs. Medalist Diversified REIT (NASDAQ:MDRR)

Medalist Diversified REIT (NASDAQ:MDRR) and Brixmor Property Group (NYSE:BRX) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings and profitability.

Dividends

Medalist Diversified REIT pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Brixmor Property Group pays an annual dividend of $1.09 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Medalist Diversified REIT pays out -15.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Brixmor Property Group pays out 117.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Medalist Diversified REIT and Brixmor Property Group”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Medalist Diversified REIT	$10.17 million	1.32	-$4.57 million	($1.51)	-7.96
Brixmor Property Group	$1.26 billion	6.45	$305.09 million	$0.93	28.98

Brixmor Property Group has higher revenue and earnings than Medalist Diversified REIT. Medalist Diversified REIT is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Brixmor Property Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for Medalist Diversified REIT and Brixmor Property Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Medalist Diversified REIT	0	0	0	0	N/A
Brixmor Property Group	0	4	8	0	2.67

Brixmor Property Group has a consensus target price of $28.54, suggesting a potential upside of 5.89%. Given Brixmor Property Group’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Brixmor Property Group is more favorable than Medalist Diversified REIT.

Risk and Volatility

Medalist Diversified REIT has a beta of 0.73, suggesting that its stock price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Brixmor Property Group has a beta of 1.57, suggesting that its stock price is 57% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Medalist Diversified REIT and Brixmor Property Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Medalist Diversified REIT	-16.11%	-18.80%	-3.71%
Brixmor Property Group	23.45%	10.34%	3.47%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

17.4% of Medalist Diversified REIT shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.4% of Brixmor Property Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 56.1% of Medalist Diversified REIT shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Brixmor Property Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Brixmor Property Group beats Medalist Diversified REIT on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Medalist Diversified REIT

Medalist Diversified REIT Inc. is a Virginia-based real estate investment trust that specializes in acquiring, owning and managing commercial real estate in the Southeast region of the U.S. The Company's strategy is to focus on commercial real estate which is expected to provide an attractive balance of risk and returns. Medalist utilizes a rigorous, consistent and replicable process for sourcing and conducting due diligence of acquisitions.

About Brixmor Property Group

Brixmor (NYSE: BRX) is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns and operates a high-quality, national portfolio of open-air shopping centers. Its 362 retail centers comprise approximately 64 million square feet of prime retail space in established trade areas. The Company strives to own and operate shopping centers that reflect Brixmor's vision to be the center of the communities we serve and are home to a diverse mix of thriving national, regional and local retailers. Brixmor is a proud real estate partner to over 5,000 retailers including The TJX Companies, The Kroger Co., Publix Super Markets and Ross Stores.