Acadia Realty Trust (NYSE:AKR) vs. Plaza Retail REIT (OTCMKTS:PAZRF) Critical Review

Plaza Retail REIT (OTCMKTS:PAZRF) and Acadia Realty Trust (NYSE:AKR) are both real estate companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability and risk.

Dividends

Plaza Retail REIT pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.2%. Acadia Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Plaza Retail REIT pays out 36.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Acadia Realty Trust pays out 235.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Acadia Realty Trust has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Plaza Retail REIT is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Plaza Retail REIT and Acadia Realty Trust”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Plaza Retail REIT	N/A	N/A	N/A	$0.65	5.87
Acadia Realty Trust	$410.76 million	6.96	$16.90 million	$0.34	61.24

Acadia Realty Trust has higher revenue and earnings than Plaza Retail REIT. Plaza Retail REIT is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Acadia Realty Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Plaza Retail REIT and Acadia Realty Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Plaza Retail REIT	0	2	0	0	2.00
Acadia Realty Trust	0	2	5	1	2.88

Acadia Realty Trust has a consensus price target of $24.20, suggesting a potential upside of 16.23%. Given Acadia Realty Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Acadia Realty Trust is more favorable than Plaza Retail REIT.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

22.2% of Plaza Retail REIT shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.7% of Acadia Realty Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.1% of Acadia Realty Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Plaza Retail REIT and Acadia Realty Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Plaza Retail REIT	N/A	N/A	N/A
Acadia Realty Trust	12.14%	1.85%	1.04%

Summary

Acadia Realty Trust beats Plaza Retail REIT on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Plaza Retail REIT

Plaza is an open-ended real estate investment trust and is a leading retail property owner and developer, focused on Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada. Plaza's portfolio at June 30, 2023 includes interests in 234 properties totaling approximately 8.8 million square feet across Canada and additional lands held for development. Plaza's portfolio largely consists of open-air centres and stand-alone small box retail outlets and is predominantly occupied by national tenants.

About Acadia Realty Trust

Acadia Realty Trust is an equity real estate investment trust focused on delivering long-term, profitable growth via its dual Core Portfolio and Fund operating platforms and its disciplined, location-driven investment strategy. Acadia Realty Trust is accomplishing this goal by building a best-in-class core real estate portfolio with meaningful concentrations of assets in the nation's most dynamic corridors; making profitable opportunistic and value-add investments through its series of discretionary, institutional funds; and maintaining a strong balance sheet.