Financial Review: Sunrise Realty Trust (NASDAQ:SUNS) versus Claros Mortgage Trust (NYSE:CMTG)

Sunrise Realty Trust (NASDAQ:SUNS) and Claros Mortgage Trust (NYSE:CMTG) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, earnings and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Sunrise Realty Trust and Claros Mortgage Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sunrise Realty Trust	53.33%	8.25%	4.90%
Claros Mortgage Trust	-354.13%	-19.70%	-6.52%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Sunrise Realty Trust and Claros Mortgage Trust, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sunrise Realty Trust	1	2	0	0	1.67
Claros Mortgage Trust	3	1	0	0	1.25

Sunrise Realty Trust currently has a consensus price target of $8.00, indicating a potential upside of 4.99%. Claros Mortgage Trust has a consensus price target of $2.22, indicating a potential upside of 24.88%. Given Claros Mortgage Trust’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Claros Mortgage Trust is more favorable than Sunrise Realty Trust.

Risk and Volatility

Sunrise Realty Trust has a beta of 1.02, suggesting that its share price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Claros Mortgage Trust has a beta of 1.16, suggesting that its share price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

89.5% of Claros Mortgage Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 28.5% of Sunrise Realty Trust shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.6% of Claros Mortgage Trust shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Sunrise Realty Trust and Claros Mortgage Trust”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sunrise Realty Trust	$21.57 million	4.78	$12.14 million	$0.97	7.86
Claros Mortgage Trust	$187.83 million	1.33	-$489.07 million	($3.83)	-0.46

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

Summary

Sunrise Realty Trust beats Claros Mortgage Trust on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sunrise Realty Trust

Sunrise Realty Trust, Inc. engages in commercial real estate (CRE) lending business. It focuses on originating CRE debt investments and providing capital to borrowers and sponsors with transitional business plans collateralized by CRE assets. The company intends to create a diversified investment portfolio, targeting investments in senior mortgage loans, mezzanine loans, whole loans, B-notes, CMBS, and debt-like preferred equity securities across CRE asset classes. Sunrise Realty Trust, Inc. was incorporated in 2023 and is based in West Palm Beach, Florida.

About Claros Mortgage Trust

Claros Mortgage Trust, Inc. operates as a real estate investment trust. It focuses on originating senior and subordinate loans on transitional commercial real estate assets in the United States. The company has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust. As a result, it would not be subject to corporate income tax on that portion of its net income that is distributed to shareholders. The company was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in New York, New York.