Analyzing Safehold (NYSE:SAFE) and LXP Industrial Trust (NYSE:LXP)

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

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Safehold and LXP Industrial Trust”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Safehold	$374.10 million	2.77	$105.76 million	$1.43	10.12
LXP Industrial Trust	$364.34 million	7.72	$44.53 million	$0.38	25.04

Safehold has higher revenue and earnings than LXP Industrial Trust. Safehold 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.

Volatility & Risk

Safehold has a beta of 1.85, indicating that its share price is 85% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LXP Industrial Trust has a beta of 1.05, indicating that its share price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

70.4% of Safehold shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.5% of LXP Industrial Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.5% of Safehold shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.6% of LXP Industrial Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Safehold and LXP Industrial Trust, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Safehold	0	7	3	0	2.30
LXP Industrial Trust	0	2	5	0	2.71

Safehold presently has a consensus target price of $19.89, indicating a potential upside of 37.50%. LXP Industrial Trust has a consensus target price of $10.80, indicating a potential upside of 13.50%. Given Safehold’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Safehold is more favorable than LXP Industrial Trust.

Dividends

Safehold pays an annual dividend of $0.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.8%. LXP Industrial Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.9%. Safehold pays out 49.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. LXP Industrial Trust pays out 147.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Safehold has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years and LXP Industrial Trust has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years. LXP Industrial Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Safehold	27.45%	4.70%	1.61%
LXP Industrial Trust	24.07%	4.34%	2.30%

Summary

Safehold beats LXP Industrial Trust on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Safehold

Safehold Inc. (NYSE: SAFE) is revolutionizing real estate ownership by providing a new and better way for owners to unlock the value of the land beneath their buildings. Having created the modern ground lease industry in 2017, Safehold continues to help owners of high quality multifamily, office, industrial, hospitality, student housing, life science and mixed-use properties generate higher returns with less risk. The Company, which is taxed as a real estate investment trust (REIT), seeks to deliver safe, growing income and long-term capital appreciation to its shareholders.

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.