Head-To-Head Review: Ventas (NYSE:VTR) and Diversified Healthcare Trust (NASDAQ:DHC)

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) and Diversified Healthcare Trust (NASDAQ:DHC) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Ventas and Diversified Healthcare Trust”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ventas	$4.92 billion	6.09	$81.15 million	$0.33	201.23
Diversified Healthcare Trust	$1.50 billion	0.55	-$370.26 million	($1.22)	-2.80

Ventas has higher revenue and earnings than Diversified Healthcare Trust. Diversified Healthcare Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ventas, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Ventas and Diversified Healthcare Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ventas	2.80%	1.36%	0.56%
Diversified Healthcare Trust	-19.38%	-14.46%	-5.65%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Ventas and Diversified Healthcare Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ventas	0	2	8	2	3.00
Diversified Healthcare Trust	1	1	0	1	2.33

Ventas presently has a consensus price target of $72.90, indicating a potential upside of 9.78%. Diversified Healthcare Trust has a consensus price target of $3.75, indicating a potential upside of 9.65%. Given Ventas’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Ventas is more favorable than Diversified Healthcare Trust.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

94.2% of Ventas shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 76.0% of Diversified Healthcare Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Ventas shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 10.1% of Diversified Healthcare Trust 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.

Dividends

Ventas pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Diversified Healthcare Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Ventas pays out 581.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Diversified Healthcare Trust pays out -3.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ventas has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Ventas is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Risk and Volatility

Ventas has a beta of 0.87, indicating that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Diversified Healthcare Trust has a beta of 2.45, indicating that its share price is 145% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Ventas beats Diversified Healthcare Trust on 15 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Diversified Healthcare Trust

Diversified Healthcare Trust is a real estate investment trust, which engages in the ownership of senior living communities, medical office buildings, and wellness centers. It operates through the following segments: Office Portfolio, Senior Housing Operating Portfolio (SHOP), and Non-Segment. The Office Portfolio segment consists of medical office properties leased to medical providers and other medical related businesses, as well as life science properties leased to biotech laboratories and other similar tenants. The SHOP segment manages senior living communities that offers short term and long term residential care, and other services for residents where it pay fees to the operator to manage the communities for its account. The company was founded on December 16, 1998 and is headquartered in Newton, MA.