Contrasting Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:PECO) and Link Real Estate Investment Trust (OTCMKTS:LKREF)

Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:PECO) and Link Real Estate Investment Trust (OTCMKTS:LKREF) are both real estate companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and valuation.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. and Link Real Estate Investment Trust”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.	$726.59 million	6.92	$111.30 million	$1.15	33.97
Link Real Estate Investment Trust	N/A	N/A	N/A	$11.79	0.39

Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. has higher revenue and earnings than Link Real Estate Investment Trust. Link Real Estate Investment Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Phillips Edison & Company, Inc., indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. and Link Real Estate Investment Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.	19.14%	5.52%	2.69%
Link Real Estate Investment Trust	N/A	N/A	N/A

Dividends

Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. pays an annual dividend of $1.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Link Real Estate Investment Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.66 per share and has a dividend yield of 35.7%. Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. pays out 113.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Link Real Estate Investment Trust pays out 14.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Link Real Estate Investment Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

80.7% of Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 39.5% of Link Real Estate Investment Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 8.1% of Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. and Link Real Estate Investment Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.	0	6	3	0	2.33
Link Real Estate Investment Trust	0	0	0	0	0.00

Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. presently has a consensus target price of $44.78, suggesting a potential upside of 14.61%. Given Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. is more favorable than Link Real Estate Investment Trust.

Summary

Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. beats Link Real Estate Investment Trust on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.

Phillips Edison & Co., Inc. is a real estate investment trust, which engages in the ownership and operation of shopping centers. It also offers an investment management business providing property management and advisory services. Its portfolio consists of well-occupied, grocery-anchored neighborhood and community shopping centers having a mix of national, regional, and local retailers offering necessity-based goods and services. The company was founded by Jeffrey S. Edison and Michael C. Phillips in 1991 and is headquartered in Cincinnati, OH.

About Link Real Estate Investment Trust

Link Real Estate Investment Trust, managed by Link Asset Management Limited, is the largest REIT in Asia, and a leading real estate investor and asset manager in the world. Listed in 2005 as the first REIT in Hong Kong, Link has been 100% held by public and institutional investors, and has no controlling unitholder. We invest and manage a diversified portfolio comprising retail facilities, car parks, offices and logistics centres. With our home in Hong Kong, our properties located in China's Beijing, Greater Bay Area (Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Shenzhen), and Yangtze River Delta centred around Shanghai, the UK's London and Australia's Sydney and Melbourne. We seek to extend our portfolio growth trajectory and grasp expansion opportunities in different markets in pursuit of being a world class real estate investor and manager. Asset management, portfolio management and capital management are three pillars of our management. We are committed to integrating Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations into our strategy and daily operations.