Analyzing Digital Realty Trust (DLR) and Its Competitors

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) is one of 35 publicly-traded companies in the “Specialized REITs” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare Digital Realty Trust to similar companies based on the strength of its profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares Digital Realty Trust and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Digital Realty Trust	13.06%	3.68%	1.77%
Digital Realty Trust Competitors	-4.53%	-3.15%	2.03%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Digital Realty Trust and its competitors revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Digital Realty Trust	$6.11 billion	$1.31 billion	76.84
Digital Realty Trust Competitors	$2.58 billion	$596.00 million	31.68

Digital Realty Trust has higher revenue and earnings than its competitors. Digital Realty Trust is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Digital Realty Trust and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Digital Realty Trust	0	6	26	2	2.88
Digital Realty Trust Competitors	523	2790	3671	191	2.49

Digital Realty Trust presently has a consensus target price of $221.53, indicating a potential upside of 20.62%. As a group, “Specialized REITs” companies have a potential upside of 11.65%. Given Digital Realty Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Digital Realty Trust is more favorable than its competitors.

Volatility & Risk

Digital Realty Trust has a beta of 0.97, meaning that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Digital Realty Trust’s competitors have a beta of 0.92, meaning that their average stock price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Digital Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $4.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Digital Realty Trust pays out 204.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. As a group, “Specialized REITs” companies pay a dividend yield of 3.3% and pay out 119.5% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Digital Realty Trust lags its competitors as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

99.7% of Digital Realty Trust shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.0% of shares of all “Specialized REITs” companies are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Digital Realty Trust shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.5% of shares of all “Specialized REITs” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Digital Realty Trust beats its competitors on 11 of the 15 factors compared.

About Digital Realty Trust

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. is a real estate investment trust that owns, operates and develops data centers. Its facilities support customers’ IT infrastructure, including the equipment and systems used to store, process and exchange digital information. The company provides data center space and related services, including colocation, interconnection and access to cloud and network providers. Its PlatformDIGITAL offering connects businesses with customers, partners and service providers across its data center portfolio.