Financial Survey: Power REIT (NYSE:PW) versus Retail Opportunity Investments (NASDAQ:ROIC)

Power REIT (NYSE:PW) and Retail Opportunity Investments (NASDAQ:ROIC) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Risk and Volatility

Power REIT has a beta of 1.33, indicating that its share price is 33% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Retail Opportunity Investments has a beta of 1.45, indicating that its share price is 45% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Power REIT and Retail Opportunity Investments’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Power REIT	-752.26%	-215.55%	-39.65%
Retail Opportunity Investments	17.38%	4.32%	1.96%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Power REIT and Retail Opportunity Investments”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Power REIT	$3.00 million	1.27	-$14.37 million	($7.29)	-0.15
Retail Opportunity Investments	$327.73 million	6.89	$34.53 million	$0.46	38.07

Retail Opportunity Investments has higher revenue and earnings than Power REIT. Power REIT is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Retail Opportunity Investments, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Power REIT and Retail Opportunity Investments, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Power REIT	0	0	0	0	0.00
Retail Opportunity Investments	1	6	0	0	1.86

Retail Opportunity Investments has a consensus price target of $16.20, suggesting a potential downside of 7.48%. Given Retail Opportunity Investments’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Retail Opportunity Investments is more favorable than Power REIT.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

14.6% of Power REIT shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.2% of Retail Opportunity Investments shares are held by institutional investors. 26.7% of Power REIT shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.0% of Retail Opportunity Investments shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Retail Opportunity Investments beats Power REIT on 12 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Power REIT

Power REIT, with a focus on the Triple Bottom Line and a commitment to Profit, Planet and People is a specialized real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns sustainable real estate related to infrastructure assets including properties for Controlled Environment Agriculture, Renewable Energy and Transportation. Power REIT is actively seeking to expand its real estate portfolio related to Controlled Environment Agriculture in the form of greenhouses for the cultivation of food and cannabis.

About Retail Opportunity Investments

Retail Opportunity Investments Corp. (Nasdaq: ROIC), is a fully integrated, self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT) that specializes in the acquisition, ownership and management of grocery-anchored shopping centers located in densely populated, metropolitan markets across the West Coast. As of December 31, 2023, ROIC owned 94 shopping centers encompassing approximately 10.6 million square feet. ROIC is the largest publicly-traded, grocery-anchored shopping center REIT focused exclusively on the West Coast. ROIC is a member of the S&P SmallCap 600 Index and has investment-grade corporate debt ratings from Moody's Investor Services, S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings, Inc.