Contrasting Ventas (NYSE:VTR) and Chatham Lodging Trust (NYSE:CLDT)

Chatham Lodging Trust (NYSE:CLDT) and Ventas (NYSE:VTR) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Chatham Lodging Trust and Ventas, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Chatham Lodging Trust	0	0	2	0	3.00
Ventas	0	2	8	1	2.91

Chatham Lodging Trust currently has a consensus price target of $10.75, indicating a potential upside of 48.07%. Ventas has a consensus price target of $73.40, indicating a potential upside of 6.22%. Given Chatham Lodging Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Chatham Lodging Trust is more favorable than Ventas.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

88.4% of Chatham Lodging Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.2% of Ventas shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.5% of Chatham Lodging Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Ventas shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Chatham Lodging Trust has a beta of 1.5, suggesting that its stock price is 50% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ventas has a beta of 0.87, suggesting that its stock price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Chatham Lodging Trust and Ventas”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Chatham Lodging Trust	$311.22 million	1.14	$4.17 million	$0.03	242.00
Ventas	$4.92 billion	6.38	$81.15 million	$0.43	160.71

Ventas has higher revenue and earnings than Chatham Lodging Trust. Ventas is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Chatham Lodging Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Chatham Lodging Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.0%. Ventas pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Chatham Lodging Trust pays out 1,200.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Ventas pays out 446.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Chatham Lodging Trust has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years and Ventas has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Chatham Lodging Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares Chatham Lodging Trust and Ventas’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Chatham Lodging Trust	3.04%	1.19%	0.76%
Ventas	3.61%	1.75%	0.74%

Summary

Ventas beats Chatham Lodging Trust on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Chatham Lodging Trust

Chatham Lodging Trust is a self-advised, publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) focused primarily on investing in upscale, extended-stay hotels and premium-branded, select-service hotels. The company owns 39 hotels totaling 5,915 rooms/suites in 16 states and the District of Columbia.

About Ventas

Ventas Inc. (NYSE: VTR) is a leading S&P 500 real estate investment trust focused on delivering strong, sustainable shareholder returns by enabling exceptional environments that benefit a large and growing aging population. The Company's growth is fueled by its senior housing communities, which provide valuable services to residents and enable them to thrive in supported environments. Ventas leverages its unmatched operational expertise, data-driven insights from its Ventas Operational InsightsTM platform, extensive relationships and strong financial position to achieve its goal of delivering outsized performance across approximately 1,400 properties. The Ventas portfolio is composed of senior housing communities, outpatient medical buildings, research centers and healthcare facilities in North America and the United Kingdom. The Company benefits from a seasoned team of talented professionals who share a commitment to excellence, integrity and a common purpose of helping people live longer, healthier, happier lives.