Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD) & Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) Critical Analysis

Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) and Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, risk, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Host Hotels & Resorts and Americold Realty Trust”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Host Hotels & Resorts	$6.11 billion	2.12	$765.00 million	$1.10	17.13
Americold Realty Trust	$2.60 billion	1.20	-$114.55 million	($0.40)	-27.36

Host Hotels & Resorts has higher revenue and earnings than Americold Realty Trust. Americold Realty Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Host Hotels & Resorts, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Host Hotels & Resorts and Americold Realty Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Host Hotels & Resorts	0	6	9	1	2.69
Americold Realty Trust	3	9	4	0	2.06

Host Hotels & Resorts presently has a consensus target price of $20.43, suggesting a potential upside of 8.43%. Americold Realty Trust has a consensus target price of $14.39, suggesting a potential upside of 31.50%. Given Americold Realty Trust’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Americold Realty Trust is more favorable than Host Hotels & Resorts.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

98.5% of Host Hotels & Resorts shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.1% of Americold Realty Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.4% of Host Hotels & Resorts shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Americold Realty Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

Host Hotels & Resorts has a beta of 1.13, indicating that its share price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Americold Realty Trust has a beta of 0.89, indicating that its share price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Host Hotels & Resorts and Americold Realty Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Host Hotels & Resorts	12.51%	11.54%	5.89%
Americold Realty Trust	-4.40%	-3.71%	-1.43%

Dividends

Host Hotels & Resorts pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. Americold Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.4%. Host Hotels & Resorts pays out 72.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Americold Realty Trust pays out -230.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Host Hotels & Resorts has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years and Americold Realty Trust has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Americold Realty Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Host Hotels & Resorts beats Americold Realty Trust on 15 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Host Hotels & Resorts

Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. is a real estate investment trust, which engages in the management of luxury and upper-upscale hotels. It operates through the following geographical segments: United States, Brazil, and Canada. The company was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in Bethesda, MD.

About Americold Realty Trust

Americold Realty Trust, Inc. is a real estate investment trust, which focuses on the ownership, operation, development, and acquisition of temperature-controlled warehouses. It operates through the following segments: Warehouse, Third-Party Managed, Transportation, and Other. The Warehouse segment collects rent and storage fees from customers to store frozen and perishable food and other products within the firm’s real estate portfolio. The Third-Party Managed segment manages warehouses on behalf of third parties and provides warehouse management services to food retailers and manufacturers in customer-owned facilities. The Transportation segment is involved in brokering and managing transportation of frozen and perishable food and other products. The Other segment includes ownership in a limestone quarry in Carthage, Missouri. The company was founded in 1931 and is headquartered in Atlanta, GA.