Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) and LXP Industrial Trust (NYSE:LXP) Financial Comparison

LXP Industrial Trust (NYSE:LXP) and Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation and profitability.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares LXP Industrial Trust and Equity Residential”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
LXP Industrial Trust	$358.46 million	7.46	$44.53 million	$0.28	32.27
Equity Residential	$2.98 billion	8.45	$1.04 billion	$2.65	24.87

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for LXP Industrial Trust and Equity Residential, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
LXP Industrial Trust	0	2	2	0	2.50
Equity Residential	0	7	6	0	2.46

LXP Industrial Trust presently has a consensus target price of $10.33, suggesting a potential upside of 14.37%. Equity Residential has a consensus target price of $75.96, suggesting a potential upside of 15.27%. Given Equity Residential’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Equity Residential is more favorable than LXP Industrial Trust.

Volatility & Risk

LXP Industrial Trust has a beta of 1.06, meaning that its share price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Equity Residential has a beta of 0.93, meaning that its share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares LXP Industrial Trust and Equity Residential’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
LXP Industrial Trust	24.07%	4.34%	2.30%
Equity Residential	33.22%	9.05%	4.85%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

93.5% of LXP Industrial Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.7% of Equity Residential shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.6% of LXP Industrial Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Equity Residential shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

LXP Industrial Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.54 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.0%. Equity Residential pays an annual dividend of $2.77 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. LXP Industrial Trust pays out 192.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Equity Residential pays out 104.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. LXP Industrial Trust has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years and Equity Residential has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Summary

Equity Residential beats LXP Industrial Trust on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About LXP Industrial Trust

LXP Industrial Trust (NYSE: LXP) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on single-tenant industrial real estate investments across the United States. LXP seeks to expand its industrial portfolio through acquisitions, build-to-suit transactions, sale-leaseback transactions, development projects and other transactions.

About Equity Residential

Equity Residential is committed to creating communities where people thrive. The Company, a member of the S&P 500, is focused on the acquisition, development and management of residential properties located in and around dynamic cities that attract affluent long-term renters. Equity Residential owns or has investments in 305 properties consisting of 80,683 apartment units, with an established presence in Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., Seattle, San Francisco and Southern California, and an expanding presence in Denver, Atlanta, Dallas/Ft. Worth and Austin.