Head to Head Review: BRT Apartments (NYSE:BRT) versus Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust (OTCMKTS:BOWFF)

Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust (OTCMKTS:BOWFF) and BRT Apartments (NYSE:BRT) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, dividends, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and valuation.

Dividends

Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.15 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. BRT Apartments pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.0%. Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust pays out 37.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. BRT Apartments pays out -196.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. BRT Apartments is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust and BRT Apartments’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust	52.90%	6.73%	3.79%
BRT Apartments	-9.51%	-4.57%	-1.30%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

29.1% of BRT Apartments shares are held by institutional investors. 19.0% of Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 42.0% of BRT Apartments shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust and BRT Apartments”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust	$440.33 million	5.13	$429.28 million	$3.09	14.89
BRT Apartments	$95.76 million	2.84	-$9.79 million	($0.51)	-28.08

Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust has higher revenue and earnings than BRT Apartments. BRT Apartments is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust has a beta of 1.12, indicating that its stock price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BRT Apartments has a beta of 0.93, indicating that its stock price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust and BRT Apartments, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust	0	1	0	0	2.00
BRT Apartments	1	1	1	0	2.00

BRT Apartments has a consensus target price of $19.50, suggesting a potential upside of 36.17%. Given BRT Apartments’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe BRT Apartments is more favorable than Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust.

Summary

Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust beats BRT Apartments on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust

Boardwalk REIT strives to be Canada’s friendliest community provider and is a leading owner/operator of multi-family rental communities. Providing homes in more than 200 communities, with over 34,000 residential suites totaling over 29 million net rentable square feet, Boardwalk has a proven long-term track record of building better communities, where love always lives. Our three-tiered and distinct brands: Boardwalk Living, Boardwalk Communities, and Boardwalk Lifestyle, cater to a large diverse demographic and has evolved to capture the life cycle of all Resident Members. Boardwalk’s disciplined approach to capital allocation, acquisition, development, purposeful re-positioning, and management of apartment communities allows the Trust to provide its brand of community across Canada creating exceptional Resident Member experiences. Differentiated by its peak performance culture, Boardwalk is committed to delivering exceptional service, product quality and experience to our Resident Members who reward us with high retention and market leading operating results, which in turn, lead to higher free cash flow and investment returns, stable monthly distributions, and value creation for all our stakeholders. Boardwalk REIT’s Trust Units are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, trading under the symbol BEI.UN.

About BRT Apartments

BRT Apartments Corp. is a real estate investment trust. It engages in the ownership, operation, and holding interests in joint ventures that own and operate multi-family properties. The company was founded in June 1972 and is headquartered in Great Neck, NY.