Financial Survey: Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT) versus NNN REIT (NYSE:NNN)

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

87.5% of Uniti Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.0% of NNN REIT shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.7% of Uniti Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of NNN REIT shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Uniti Group has a beta of 1.5, meaning that its share price is 50% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NNN REIT has a beta of 0.83, meaning that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Uniti Group	55.60%	-2.52%	-3.27%
NNN REIT	42.08%	8.89%	4.21%

Earnings and Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Uniti Group	$2.23 billion	0.84	$1.30 billion	$3.77	2.09
NNN REIT	$926.21 million	8.61	$389.78 million	$2.07	20.26

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Uniti Group and NNN REIT, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Uniti Group	1	4	1	1	2.29
NNN REIT	2	6	1	0	1.89

Uniti Group currently has a consensus target price of $8.60, indicating a potential upside of 9.14%. NNN REIT has a consensus target price of $44.83, indicating a potential upside of 6.91%. Given Uniti Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Uniti Group is more favorable than NNN REIT.

Summary

Uniti Group beats NNN REIT on 9 of the 14 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 NNN REIT

NNN REIT invests primarily in high-quality retail properties subject generally to long-term, net leases. As of December 31, 2023, the company owned 3,532 properties in 49 states with a gross leasable area of approximately 36.0 million square feet and a weighted average remaining lease term of 10.1 years. NNN is one of only three publicly traded REITs to have increased annual dividends for 34 or more consecutive years.