Farmland Partners (NYSE:FPI) and Mobile Infrastructure (NASDAQ:BEEP) Critical Contrast

Farmland Partners (NYSE:FPI) and Mobile Infrastructure (NASDAQ:BEEP) are both small-cap real estate companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Farmland Partners and Mobile Infrastructure’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Farmland Partners	49.85%	5.54%	3.58%
Mobile Infrastructure	-70.76%	-11.49%	-4.88%

Volatility and Risk

Farmland Partners has a beta of 0.67, meaning that its stock price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mobile Infrastructure has a beta of 0.59, meaning that its stock price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

58.0% of Farmland Partners shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.3% of Mobile Infrastructure shares are held by institutional investors. 7.9% of Farmland Partners shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 36.6% of Mobile Infrastructure shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Farmland Partners and Mobile Infrastructure, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Farmland Partners	0	4	0	0	2.00
Mobile Infrastructure	1	0	2	0	2.33

Mobile Infrastructure has a consensus target price of $6.25, suggesting a potential upside of 152.02%. Given Mobile Infrastructure’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Mobile Infrastructure is more favorable than Farmland Partners.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Farmland Partners and Mobile Infrastructure”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Farmland Partners	$52.18 million	8.29	$31.55 million	$0.51	19.44
Mobile Infrastructure	$35.08 million	2.91	-$21.44 million	($0.63)	-3.94

Farmland Partners has higher revenue and earnings than Mobile Infrastructure. Mobile Infrastructure is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Farmland Partners, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Farmland Partners beats Mobile Infrastructure on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Farmland Partners

Farmland Partners Inc. is an internally managed real estate company that owns and seeks to acquire high-quality North American farmland and makes loans to farmers secured by farm real estate. As of December 31, 2023, the Company owns and/or manages approximately 171,100 acres in 16 states, including Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas. In addition, the Company owns land and buildings for four agriculture equipment dealerships in Ohio leased to Ag Pro under the John Deere brand. The Company has approximately 26 crop types and over 100 tenants. The Company elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust, or REIT, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, commencing with the taxable year ended December 31, 2014.

About Mobile Infrastructure

Mobile Infrastructure Corporation is a Maryland corporation. The Company owns a diversified portfolio of parking assets primarily located in the Midwest and Southwest. As of December 31, 2023, the Company owned 43 parking facilities in 21 separate markets throughout the United States, with a total of 15,700 parking spaces and approximately 5.4 million square feet. The Company also owns approximately 0.2 million square feet of retail/commercial space adjacent to its parking facilities.