Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (NYSE:PEB) versus CTO Realty Growth (NYSE:CTO) Head-To-Head Comparison

CTO Realty Growth (NYSE:CTO) and Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (NYSE:PEB) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends and institutional ownership.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares CTO Realty Growth and Pebblebrook Hotel Trust”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CTO Realty Growth	$124.52 million	4.70	-$1.97 million	($1.29)	-14.00
Pebblebrook Hotel Trust	$1.45 billion	0.94	-$4.24 million	($1.19)	-10.13

CTO Realty Growth has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Pebblebrook Hotel Trust. CTO Realty Growth is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Pebblebrook Hotel Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares CTO Realty Growth and Pebblebrook Hotel Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CTO Realty Growth	-22.77%	-5.72%	-2.74%
Pebblebrook Hotel Trust	-7.45%	-4.02%	-1.93%

Volatility and Risk

CTO Realty Growth has a beta of 0.64, indicating that its share price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Pebblebrook Hotel Trust has a beta of 1.53, indicating that its share price is 53% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for CTO Realty Growth and Pebblebrook Hotel Trust, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CTO Realty Growth	1	1	2	1	2.60
Pebblebrook Hotel Trust	6	5	1	1	1.77

CTO Realty Growth currently has a consensus target price of $22.00, suggesting a potential upside of 21.80%. Pebblebrook Hotel Trust has a consensus target price of $12.08, suggesting a potential upside of 0.24%. Given CTO Realty Growth’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe CTO Realty Growth is more favorable than Pebblebrook Hotel Trust.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

67.2% of CTO Realty Growth shares are held by institutional investors. 4.0% of CTO Realty Growth shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.1% of Pebblebrook Hotel Trust shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

CTO Realty Growth pays an annual dividend of $1.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.4%. Pebblebrook Hotel Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. CTO Realty Growth pays out -117.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Pebblebrook Hotel Trust pays out -3.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. CTO Realty Growth is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

CTO Realty Growth beats Pebblebrook Hotel Trust on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CTO Realty Growth

CTO Realty Growth, Inc. is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that owns and operates a portfolio of high-quality, retail-based properties located primarily in higher growth markets in the United States. CTO also externally manages and owns a meaningful interest in Alpine Income Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE: PINE), a publicly traded net lease REIT.

About Pebblebrook Hotel Trust

Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (NYSE: PEB) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust ("REIT") and the largest owner of urban and resort lifestyle hotels and resorts in the United States. The Company owns 47 hotels and resorts, totaling approximately 12,200 guest rooms across 13 urban and resort markets.