Analyzing Stratus Properties (NASDAQ:STRS) and Next (OTCMKTS:NXCLF)

Next (OTCMKTS:NXCLF) and Stratus Properties (NASDAQ:STRS) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

61.6% of Stratus Properties shares are held by institutional investors. 10.0% of Stratus Properties shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Next and Stratus Properties, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Next	0	0	0	0	0.00
Stratus Properties	1	0	0	0	1.00

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Next and Stratus Properties”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Next	$188.62 million	0.81	$35.62 million	($0.37)	-3.24
Stratus Properties	$54.18 million	4.34	$1.96 million	($1.01)	-29.11

Next has higher revenue and earnings than Stratus Properties. Stratus Properties is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Next, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Next and Stratus Properties’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Next	21.21%	11.09%	7.28%
Stratus Properties	-25.38%	-2.57%	-1.46%

Volatility & Risk

Next has a beta of 0.05, indicating that its stock price is 95% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Stratus Properties has a beta of 1.28, indicating that its stock price is 28% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Next beats Stratus Properties on 7 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Next

LIFULL Co.,Ltd. provides real estate information services in Japan and internationally. It offers LIFULL HOME'S, a site of real estate and housing information; LIFULL Revitalize Rural Japan that suggests new lifestyles to people in Japan based on the refurbishment of abandoned houses; LIFULL Move, which provides rankings and reviews of moving companies; LIFULL Nursing Care, a special care facility searching web service; and LIFULL Investment, a money lending website. The company also provides LIFULL FaM that enables working mothers balance childcare with work while pursuing a career; LIFULL Storage, a storage space searching web service; LIFULL HUB, a shared office; LIFULL Fab for design and craftsmanship; and LIFULL Table, a gallery and open space for photography, exhibitions, press releases, and workshops. In addition, it offers LivingAnywhere Commons, a community to live; instant house products; Trovit, an aggregation website providing information on items, including real estate and housing, used cars, recruitment, and mail orders; and Mitula, a site that provides information in real estate and housing, used cars, recruitment, and fashion. The company was formerly known as NEXT Co., Ltd. and changed its name to LIFULL Co.,Ltd. in April 2017. LIFULL Co.,Ltd. was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

About Stratus Properties

Stratus Properties Inc., a real estate company, engages in the entitlement, development, management, leasing, and sale of multi and single family residential and commercial real estate properties in the Austin, Texas area and other select markets in Texas. The company operates in two segments, Real Estate Operations and Leasing Operations. Its leasing operations cover lease of space at retail and mixed-use and multi-family properties. The company was incorporated in 1992 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.