Analyzing COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) & Sotherly Hotels (NASDAQ:SOHO)

COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) and Sotherly Hotels (NASDAQ:SOHO) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

27.5% of Sotherly Hotels shares are held by institutional investors. 1.4% of COPT Defense Properties shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 15.9% of Sotherly Hotels shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for COPT Defense Properties and Sotherly Hotels, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
COPT Defense Properties	0	2	4	0	2.67
Sotherly Hotels	1	1	0	0	1.50

COPT Defense Properties presently has a consensus target price of $33.17, suggesting a potential upside of 15.30%. Sotherly Hotels has a consensus target price of $1.50, suggesting a potential upside of 106.24%. Given Sotherly Hotels’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Sotherly Hotels is more favorable than COPT Defense Properties.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares COPT Defense Properties and Sotherly Hotels”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
COPT Defense Properties	$753.27 million	4.31	$138.93 million	$1.28	22.47
Sotherly Hotels	$181.89 million	0.08	$1.30 million	($0.34)	-2.14

COPT Defense Properties has higher revenue and earnings than Sotherly Hotels. Sotherly Hotels is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than COPT Defense Properties, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk and Volatility

COPT Defense Properties has a beta of 0.87, meaning that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sotherly Hotels has a beta of 0.93, meaning that its share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares COPT Defense Properties and Sotherly Hotels’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
COPT Defense Properties	19.23%	9.38%	3.39%
Sotherly Hotels	0.89%	3.69%	0.39%

Summary

COPT Defense Properties beats Sotherly Hotels on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About COPT Defense Properties

COPT Defense Properties is a real estate investment trust. It acquires, develops, manages, sells, and leases out office properties and data centers. The firm operates through the following segments: Defense/Information Technology Locations, Regional Office, Wholesale Data Center, and Other. The company was founded on January 22,1988 and is headquartered in Columbia, MD.

About Sotherly Hotels

Sotherly Hotels Inc. is a self-managed and self-administered lodging REIT focused on the acquisition, renovation, upbranding and repositioning of upscale to upper-upscale full-service hotels in the Southern United States. Sotherly may also opportunistically acquire hotels throughout the United States. Currently, the Company's portfolio consists of investments in ten hotel properties, comprising 2,786 rooms, as well as interests in two condominium hotels and their associated rental programs. The Company owns hotels that operate under the Hilton Worldwide and Hyatt Hotels Corporation brands, as well as independent hotels. Sotherly Hotels Inc. was organized in 2004 and is headquartered in Williamsburg, Virginia.