Comparing Comstock Holding Companies (NASDAQ:CHCI) and Fathom (NASDAQ:FTHM)

Comstock Holding Companies (NASDAQ:CHCI) and Fathom (NASDAQ:FTHM) are both small-cap real estate companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends and valuation.

Risk and Volatility

Comstock Holding Companies has a beta of -0.48, indicating that its share price is 148% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Fathom has a beta of 2.25, indicating that its share price is 125% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Comstock Holding Companies and Fathom”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Comstock Holding Companies	$62.86 million	2.84	$17.05 million	$2.36	7.35
Fathom	$420.48 million	0.02	-$20.31 million	($0.80)	-0.23

Comstock Holding Companies has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Fathom. Fathom is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Comstock Holding Companies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

6.5% of Comstock Holding Companies shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 55.5% of Fathom shares are held by institutional investors. 35.0% of Comstock Holding Companies shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 16.4% of Fathom shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Comstock Holding Companies and Fathom, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Comstock Holding Companies	0	0	1	0	3.00
Fathom	1	0	0	1	2.50

Fathom has a consensus target price of $2.50, suggesting a potential upside of 1,245.53%. Given Fathom’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Fathom is more favorable than Comstock Holding Companies.

Profitability

This table compares Comstock Holding Companies and Fathom’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Comstock Holding Companies	32.16%	35.60%	30.45%
Fathom	-6.27%	-75.89%	-33.25%

Summary

Comstock Holding Companies beats Fathom on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Comstock Holding Companies

Comstock Holding Companies, Inc. operates as a real estate asset manager, developer, and operator of mixed-use and transit-oriented properties in the Washington, D.C. region. The company acquires, develops, operates, and sells residential, commercial, and mixed-use properties. It also provides various asset and property management, development and construction management, and other real estate services to its asset-owning clients, which include primarily of institutional real estate investors, high net worth family offices, and governmental bodies. The company was formerly known as Comstock Homebuilding Companies, Inc. and changed its name to Comstock Holding Companies, Inc. in June 2012. Comstock Holding Companies, Inc. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.

About Fathom

Fathom Holdings Inc. provides a real estate services platform that integrates residential brokerage, mortgage, title, and insurance services in the United States. It operates through three segments: Real Estate Brokerage, Mortgage, and Technology. The Real Estate Brokerage segment provides real estate brokerage services. The Mortgage segment offers residential loan origination and underwriting services. The Technology segment provides Software as a Service solutions and data mining for third party customers. It offers access to various properties for sale or lease through its FathomRealty.com website to buyers, sellers, landlords, and tenants; insurance agency services; and title services. In addition, the company provides intelliAgent, a real estate technology platform that offers a suite of brokerage and agent level tools, technology, business processes, business intelligence and reporting, and training; transaction, personnel, customer relationship, and accounting management for agent transactions; and reporting, social media marketing, and other marketing and marketing repository services, as well as marketplace for add-on services and third-party technology. Its brands include Fathom Realty, Dagley Insurance, Encompass Lending, intelliAgent, LiveBy, Real Results, Verus Title, and Cornerstone. The company was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Cary, North Carolina.