Head to Head Comparison: Easterly Government Properties (NYSE:DEA) and JBG SMITH Properties (NYSE:JBGS)

JBG SMITH Properties (NYSE:JBGS) and Easterly Government Properties (NYSE:DEA) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation and risk.

Dividends

JBG SMITH Properties pays an annual dividend of $0.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. Easterly Government Properties pays an annual dividend of $1.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.3%. JBG SMITH Properties pays out -83.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Easterly Government Properties pays out 557.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for JBG SMITH Properties and Easterly Government Properties, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
JBG SMITH Properties	1	0	0	0	1.00
Easterly Government Properties	1	1	0	0	1.50

JBG SMITH Properties presently has a consensus target price of $16.00, indicating a potential downside of 1.60%. Easterly Government Properties has a consensus target price of $13.50, indicating a potential upside of 18.53%. Given Easterly Government Properties’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Easterly Government Properties is more favorable than JBG SMITH Properties.

Risk & Volatility

JBG SMITH Properties has a beta of 1.08, indicating that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Easterly Government Properties has a beta of 0.67, indicating that its share price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

98.5% of JBG SMITH Properties shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.5% of Easterly Government Properties shares are held by institutional investors. 3.7% of JBG SMITH Properties shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 8.2% of Easterly Government Properties shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares JBG SMITH Properties and Easterly Government Properties’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
JBG SMITH Properties	-13.24%	-3.20%	-1.40%
Easterly Government Properties	6.55%	1.32%	0.66%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares JBG SMITH Properties and Easterly Government Properties’ gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
JBG SMITH Properties	$604.20 million	2.47	-$79.98 million	($0.84)	-19.36
Easterly Government Properties	$287.23 million	4.06	$18.80 million	$0.19	59.95

Easterly Government Properties has lower revenue, but higher earnings than JBG SMITH Properties. JBG SMITH Properties is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Easterly Government Properties, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Easterly Government Properties beats JBG SMITH Properties on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About JBG SMITH Properties

JBG SMITH owns, operates, invests in, and develops mixed-use properties in high growth and high barrier-to-entry submarkets in and around Washington, DC, most notably National Landing. Through an intense focus on placemaking, JBG SMITH cultivates vibrant, amenity-rich, walkable neighborhoods throughout the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Approximately 75.0% of JBG SMITH's holdings are in the National Landing submarket in Northern Virginia, which is anchored by four key demand drivers: Amazon's new headquarters; Virginia Tech's under-construction $1 billion Innovation Campus; the submarket's proximity to the Pentagon; and JBG SMITH's deployment of 5G digital infrastructure. JBG SMITH's dynamic portfolio currently comprises 14.2 million square feet of high-growth office, multifamily, and retail assets at share, 99% of which are Metro-served. It also maintains a development pipeline encompassing 8.8 million square feet of mixed-use, primarily multifamily, development opportunities. JBG SMITH is committed to the operation and development of green, smart, and healthy buildings and plans to maintain carbon neutral operations annually.

About Easterly Government Properties

Easterly Government Properties, Inc. (NYSE: DEA) is based in Washington, D.C., and focuses primarily on the acquisition, development and management of Class A commercial properties that are leased to the U.S. Government. Easterly's experienced management team brings specialized insight into the strategy and needs of mission-critical U.S. Government agencies for properties leased to such agencies either directly or through the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA).