Critical Analysis: Ventas (NYSE:VTR) and HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital (NYSE:HASI)

HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital (NYSE:HASI) and Ventas (NYSE:VTR) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

96.1% of HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.2% of Ventas shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.0% of HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Ventas shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital and Ventas, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital	0	1	12	2	3.07
Ventas	0	3	7	2	2.92

HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital currently has a consensus target price of $38.92, suggesting a potential upside of 60.49%. Ventas has a consensus target price of $72.90, suggesting a potential upside of 6.74%. Given HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital is more favorable than Ventas.

Profitability

This table compares HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital and Ventas’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital	52.15%	11.84%	4.07%
Ventas	1.65%	0.82%	0.32%

Dividends

HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital pays an annual dividend of $1.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.9%. Ventas pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital pays out 106.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Ventas pays out 1,010.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital and Ventas”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital	$389.11 million	7.55	$200.04 million	$1.58	15.35
Ventas	$4.92 billion	6.07	$81.15 million	$0.19	359.46

HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Ventas. HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ventas, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital has a beta of 1.83, suggesting that its stock price is 83% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ventas has a beta of 1.02, suggesting that its stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital beats Ventas on 14 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital

HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the investment of energy efficiency, renewable energy, and sustainable infrastructure markets in the United States. The company’s portfolio includes equity investments, commercial and government receivables, real estate, and debt securities. It invests in climate solutions, including Behind-the-Meter, which distributes energy projects that reduce energy usage or cost through heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, as well as lighting, energy controls, roofs, windows, building shells, and/or combined heat and power systems; Grid-Connected, a renewable energy projects that deploy cleaner energy sources, such as solar, solar-plus-storage, and wind to generate power production; and Fuels, Transport, and Nature, a range of real assets spanning high-emitting economic sectors other than the power grid such as transportation and fuels comprising renewable natural gas plants, transportation fleet enhancements, ecological restoration, and other projects. HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital, Inc. was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Annapolis, Maryland.

About Ventas

Ventas Inc. (NYSE: VTR) is a leading S&P 500 real estate investment trust focused on delivering strong, sustainable shareholder returns by enabling exceptional environments that benefit a large and growing aging population. The Company's growth is fueled by its senior housing communities, which provide valuable services to residents and enable them to thrive in supported environments. Ventas leverages its unmatched operational expertise, data-driven insights from its Ventas Operational InsightsTM platform, extensive relationships and strong financial position to achieve its goal of delivering outsized performance across approximately 1,400 properties. The Ventas portfolio is composed of senior housing communities, outpatient medical buildings, research centers and healthcare facilities in North America and the United Kingdom. The Company benefits from a seasoned team of talented professionals who share a commitment to excellence, integrity and a common purpose of helping people live longer, healthier, happier lives.