Reviewing OUTFRONT Media (NYSE:OUT) and Safehold (NYSE:SAFE)

Safehold (NYSE:SAFE) and OUTFRONT Media (NYSE:OUT) are both real estate companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, valuation and profitability.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Safehold and OUTFRONT Media”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Safehold	$385.55 million	2.80	$114.47 million	$1.62	9.42
OUTFRONT Media	$1.83 billion	2.91	$147.00 million	$1.39	21.74

OUTFRONT Media has higher revenue and earnings than Safehold. Safehold is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than OUTFRONT Media, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations for Safehold and OUTFRONT Media, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Safehold	1	6	2	0	2.11
OUTFRONT Media	0	1	6	0	2.86

Safehold currently has a consensus target price of $17.17, suggesting a potential upside of 12.47%. OUTFRONT Media has a consensus target price of $34.00, suggesting a potential upside of 12.51%. Given OUTFRONT Media’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe OUTFRONT Media is more favorable than Safehold.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

70.4% of Safehold shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.8% of Safehold shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of OUTFRONT Media shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Safehold and OUTFRONT Media’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Safehold	27.70%	4.76%	1.62%
OUTFRONT Media	12.66%	37.44%	4.65%

Dividends

Safehold pays an annual dividend of $0.71 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.7%. OUTFRONT Media pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Safehold pays out 43.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. OUTFRONT Media pays out 86.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Safehold has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Safehold is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Volatility and Risk

Safehold has a beta of 1.75, suggesting that its stock price is 75% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, OUTFRONT Media has a beta of 1.49, suggesting that its stock price is 49% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

OUTFRONT Media beats Safehold on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Safehold

Safehold Inc. (NYSE: SAFE) is revolutionizing real estate ownership by providing a new and better way for owners to unlock the value of the land beneath their buildings. Having created the modern ground lease industry in 2017, Safehold continues to help owners of high quality multifamily, office, industrial, hospitality, student housing, life science and mixed-use properties generate higher returns with less risk. The Company, which is taxed as a real estate investment trust (REIT), seeks to deliver safe, growing income and long-term capital appreciation to its shareholders.

About OUTFRONT Media

OUTFRONT Media, Inc. leases advertising space on out-of-home advertising structures and sites. Its inventory consists of billboard displays, which are primarily located on the most heavily traveled highways & roadways, and transit advertising displays operated under exclusive multi-year contracts with municipalities in large cities across the U.S. and Canada. It operates through the U.S. Media and other segments. The U.S. Media segment includes U.S. Billboard and Transit. The company was founded in 1938 and is headquartered in New York, NY.