Financial Analysis: Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY) and CoreCivic (NYSE:CXW)

CoreCivic (NYSE:CXW) and Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, valuation and dividends.

Dividends

CoreCivic pays an annual dividend of $1.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 11.9%. Weyerhaeuser pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. CoreCivic pays out 298.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Weyerhaeuser pays out 69.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Weyerhaeuser has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for CoreCivic and Weyerhaeuser, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CoreCivic	0	0	2	0	3.00
Weyerhaeuser	0	4	2	0	2.33

CoreCivic currently has a consensus price target of $19.00, suggesting a potential upside of 28.99%. Weyerhaeuser has a consensus price target of $38.00, suggesting a potential upside of 20.75%. Given CoreCivic’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe CoreCivic is more favorable than Weyerhaeuser.

Profitability

This table compares CoreCivic and Weyerhaeuser’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CoreCivic	3.56%	4.70%	2.22%
Weyerhaeuser	10.93%	7.36%	4.37%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares CoreCivic and Weyerhaeuser’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CoreCivic	$1.90 billion	0.87	$67.59 million	$0.59	24.97
Weyerhaeuser	$7.67 billion	2.99	$839.00 million	$1.15	27.37

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

Risk and Volatility

CoreCivic has a beta of 0.81, meaning that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Weyerhaeuser has a beta of 1.43, meaning that its share price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

85.1% of CoreCivic shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.0% of Weyerhaeuser shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.9% of CoreCivic shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Weyerhaeuser shares are owned 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.

Summary

Weyerhaeuser beats CoreCivic on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CoreCivic

CoreCivic, Inc. owns and operates partnership correctional, detention, and residential reentry facilities in the United States. It operates through three segments: CoreCivic Safety, CoreCivic Community, and CoreCivic Properties. The company provides a range of solutions to government partners that serve the public good through corrections and detention management, a network of residential reentry centers to help address America's recidivism crisis, and government real estate solutions. Its correctional, detention, and residential reentry facilities offer rehabilitation and educational programs, including basic education, faith-based services, life skills and employment training, and substance abuse treatment. The company owns and operates correctional and detention facilities, residential reentry centers, and properties for lease. CoreCivic, Inc. was founded in 1983 and is based in Brentwood, Tennessee.

About Weyerhaeuser

Weyerhaeuser Company, one of the world's largest private owners of timberlands, began operations in 1900. We own or control approximately 11 million acres of timberlands in the U.S. and manage additional timberlands under long-term licenses in Canada. We manage these timberlands on a sustainable basis in compliance with internationally recognized forestry standards. We are also one of the largest manufacturers of wood products in North America. Our company is a real estate investment trust. In 2022, we generated $10.2 billion in net sales and employed approximately 9,200 people who serve customers worldwide. Our common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol WY.