Head to Head Review: City Office REIT (NYSE:CIO) & Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT)

Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT) and City Office REIT (NYSE:CIO) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, valuation and dividends.

Risk & Volatility

Uniti Group has a beta of 1.45, indicating that its share price is 45% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, City Office REIT has a beta of 1.59, indicating that its share price is 59% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Uniti Group and City Office REIT”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Uniti Group	$1.17 billion	0.98	$93.41 million	$5.11	1.50
City Office REIT	$163.80 million	1.72	-$17.68 million	($3.17)	-2.21

Uniti Group has higher revenue and earnings than City Office REIT. City Office REIT is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Uniti Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Uniti Group and City Office REIT, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Uniti Group	0	5	1	1	2.43
City Office REIT	1	1	0	0	1.50

Uniti Group currently has a consensus target price of $6.86, indicating a potential downside of 10.79%. Given Uniti Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Uniti Group is more favorable than City Office REIT.

Profitability

This table compares Uniti Group and City Office REIT’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Uniti Group	97.46%	-2.52%	0.59%
City Office REIT	-74.21%	-21.71%	-9.19%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

87.5% of Uniti Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.5% of City Office REIT shares are held by institutional investors. 2.7% of Uniti Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.3% of City Office REIT shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Uniti Group beats City Office REIT on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Uniti Group

Uniti Group, Inc. is a real estate investment trust company, which engages in the acquisition, construction, and leasing of properties. It operates through the following business segments: Uniti Leasing, Uniti Fiber, and Corporate. The Uniti Leasing segment involves mission-critical communications assets on exclusive or shared-tenant basis, and dark fiber network. The Uniti Fiber segment includes the operation of infrastructure solutions, cell site backhauls, and dark fiber. The Corporate segment consists of office and shared service functions. The company was founded in February 2014 and is headquartered in Little Rock, AR.

About City Office REIT

City Office REIT is an internally-managed real estate company focused on acquiring, owning and operating high-quality office properties located predominantly in Sun Belt markets. City Office currently owns or has a controlling interest in 5.7 million square feet of office properties. The Company has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust for U.S. federal income tax purposes.