Digital Realty Trust (DLR) & The Competition Head to Head Survey

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) is one of 35 publicly-traded companies in the “Specialized REITs” industry, but how does it contrast to its rivals? We will compare Digital Realty Trust to similar companies based on the strength of its earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, risk and profitability.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

99.7% of Digital Realty Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.0% of shares of all “Specialized REITs” companies are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Digital Realty Trust shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 7.5% of shares of all “Specialized REITs” companies are owned by 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 & Volatility

Digital Realty Trust has a beta of 0.97, suggesting that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Digital Realty Trust’s rivals have a beta of 0.92, suggesting that their average stock price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations for Digital Realty Trust and its rivals, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Digital Realty Trust	0	6	26	2	2.88
Digital Realty Trust Competitors	518	2784	3666	191	2.49

Digital Realty Trust presently has a consensus price target of $221.53, suggesting a potential upside of 27.30%. As a group, “Specialized REITs” companies have a potential upside of 14.42%. Given Digital Realty Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Digital Realty Trust is more favorable than its rivals.

Profitability

This table compares Digital Realty Trust and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Digital Realty Trust	13.06%	3.68%	1.77%
Digital Realty Trust Competitors	-5.27%	-3.18%	2.01%

Dividends

Digital Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $4.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Digital Realty Trust pays out 204.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. As a group, “Specialized REITs” companies pay a dividend yield of 3.4% and pay out 120.3% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Digital Realty Trust lags its rivals as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Digital Realty Trust and its rivals revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Digital Realty Trust	$6.11 billion	$1.31 billion	72.81
Digital Realty Trust Competitors	$2.59 billion	$596.00 million	31.56

Digital Realty Trust has higher revenue and earnings than its rivals. Digital Realty Trust is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Digital Realty Trust beats its rivals on 11 of the 15 factors compared.

Digital Realty Trust Company Profile

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. operates as a real estate investment trust, which engages in the provision of data center, colocation and interconnection solutions. It serves the following industries: artificial intelligence (AI), networks, cloud, digital media, mobile, financial services, healthcare, and gaming. The company was founded on March 9, 2004, and is headquartered in Dallas, TX.