Comparing BRAEMAR HOTELS & RESORTS (NYSE:BHR) & Sunstone Hotel Investors (NYSE:SHO)

Sunstone Hotel Investors (NYSE:SHO) and BRAEMAR HOTELS & RESORTS (NYSE:BHR) are both real estate companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, earnings and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Sunstone Hotel Investors and BRAEMAR HOTELS & RESORTS, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sunstone Hotel Investors	1	5	1	1	2.25
BRAEMAR HOTELS & RESORTS	1	2	0	0	1.67

Sunstone Hotel Investors currently has a consensus target price of $10.67, suggesting a potential downside of 5.52%. BRAEMAR HOTELS & RESORTS has a consensus target price of $2.50, suggesting a potential upside of 21.36%. Given BRAEMAR HOTELS & RESORTS’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe BRAEMAR HOTELS & RESORTS is more favorable than Sunstone Hotel Investors.

Profitability

This table compares Sunstone Hotel Investors and BRAEMAR HOTELS & RESORTS’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sunstone Hotel Investors	5.30%	3.21%	1.75%
BRAEMAR HOTELS & RESORTS	-0.45%	-1.92%	-0.17%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

99.4% of Sunstone Hotel Investors shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 64.8% of BRAEMAR HOTELS & RESORTS shares are held by institutional investors. 1.4% of Sunstone Hotel Investors shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.2% of BRAEMAR HOTELS & RESORTS shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Sunstone Hotel Investors and BRAEMAR HOTELS & RESORTS”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sunstone Hotel Investors	$960.13 million	2.19	$24.57 million	$0.22	51.32
BRAEMAR HOTELS & RESORTS	$704.02 million	0.20	-$22.32 million	($0.73)	-2.82

Sunstone Hotel Investors has higher revenue and earnings than BRAEMAR HOTELS & RESORTS. BRAEMAR HOTELS & RESORTS is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Sunstone Hotel Investors, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk and Volatility

Sunstone Hotel Investors has a beta of 0.97, suggesting that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BRAEMAR HOTELS & RESORTS has a beta of 0.8, suggesting that its stock price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Sunstone Hotel Investors beats BRAEMAR HOTELS & RESORTS on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sunstone Hotel Investors

Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. is a lodging real estate investment trust ("REIT") that as of the date of this release owns 14 hotels comprised of 6,675 rooms, the majority of which are operated under nationally recognized brands. Sunstone's strategy is to create long-term stakeholder value through the acquisition, active ownership, and disposition of well-located hotel and resort real estate.

About BRAEMAR HOTELS & RESORTS

Braemar Hotels & Resorts is a conservatively capitalized REIT that invests primarily in high RevPAR, full-service luxury hotels and resorts. We are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol BHR and are externally-advised by Ashford (NYSE American: AINC).