Financial Review: CoreCivic (NYSE:CXW) and Peakstone Realty Trust (NYSE:PKST)

CoreCivic (NYSE:CXW) and Peakstone Realty Trust (NYSE:PKST) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation and dividends.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

85.1% of CoreCivic shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 39.0% of Peakstone Realty Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 2.3% of CoreCivic shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Peakstone Realty Trust shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares CoreCivic and Peakstone Realty Trust”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CoreCivic	$1.96 billion	1.18	$68.87 million	$0.94	22.92
Peakstone Realty Trust	$228.07 million	2.11	-$10.43 million	($8.89)	-1.47

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

Risk and Volatility

CoreCivic has a beta of 0.81, suggesting that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Peakstone Realty Trust has a beta of 1.76, suggesting that its stock price is 76% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for CoreCivic and Peakstone Realty Trust, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CoreCivic	0	0	4	0	3.00
Peakstone Realty Trust	1	0	2	0	2.33

CoreCivic presently has a consensus target price of $33.33, suggesting a potential upside of 54.72%. Peakstone Realty Trust has a consensus target price of $17.50, suggesting a potential upside of 34.03%. Given CoreCivic’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe CoreCivic is more favorable than Peakstone Realty Trust.

Profitability

This table compares CoreCivic and Peakstone Realty Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CoreCivic	5.21%	7.12%	3.54%
Peakstone Realty Trust	-145.77%	-31.54%	-13.18%

Summary

CoreCivic beats Peakstone Realty Trust on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CoreCivic

CoreCivic, Inc. owns and operates partnership correctional, detention, and residential reentry facilities in the United States. It operates through three segments: CoreCivic Safety, CoreCivic Community, and CoreCivic Properties. The company provides a range of solutions to government partners that serve the public good through corrections and detention management, a network of residential reentry centers to help address America’s recidivism crisis, and government real estate solutions. Its correctional, detention, and residential reentry facilities offer rehabilitation and educational programs, including basic education, faith-based services, life skills and employment training, and substance abuse treatment. The company owns and operates correctional and detention facilities, residential reentry centers, and properties for lease. CoreCivic, Inc. was founded in 1983 and is based in Brentwood, Tennessee.

About Peakstone Realty Trust

Peakstone Realty Trust (NYSE: PKST) is an internally managed, real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns and operates a high-quality, newer-vintage portfolio of predominantly single-tenant industrial and office properties. These assets are generally leased to creditworthy tenants under long-term net lease agreements with contractual rent escalations. As of March 31, 2023, Peakstone's wholly-owned portfolio consists of 19 million square feet across 24 states in primarily high-growth, strategic coastal and sunbelt markets.