Financial Contrast: Summit Hotel Properties (NYSE:INN) versus National Health Investors (NYSE:NHI)

National Health Investors (NYSE:NHI) and Summit Hotel Properties (NYSE:INN) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability and risk.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares National Health Investors and Summit Hotel Properties”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
National Health Investors	$375.63 million	9.59	$142.18 million	$3.10	23.98
Summit Hotel Properties	$729.47 million	0.86	-$7.69 million	($0.29)	-20.04

National Health Investors has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Summit Hotel Properties. Summit Hotel Properties is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than National Health Investors, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for National Health Investors and Summit Hotel Properties, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
National Health Investors	0	2	4	1	2.86
Summit Hotel Properties	2	2	1	0	1.80

National Health Investors presently has a consensus target price of $87.50, suggesting a potential upside of 17.70%. Summit Hotel Properties has a consensus target price of $5.00, suggesting a potential downside of 13.97%. Given National Health Investors’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe National Health Investors is more favorable than Summit Hotel Properties.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

62.5% of National Health Investors shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.5% of Summit Hotel Properties shares are held by institutional investors. 2.7% of National Health Investors shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 4.3% of Summit Hotel Properties shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares National Health Investors and Summit Hotel Properties’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
National Health Investors	36.86%	9.82%	5.35%
Summit Hotel Properties	-1.75%	-1.03%	-0.46%

Volatility and Risk

National Health Investors has a beta of 0.55, indicating that its share price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Summit Hotel Properties has a beta of 1.25, indicating that its share price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

National Health Investors pays an annual dividend of $3.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.0%. Summit Hotel Properties pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.5%. National Health Investors pays out 118.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Summit Hotel Properties pays out -110.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Summit Hotel Properties has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Summit Hotel Properties is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

National Health Investors beats Summit Hotel Properties on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About National Health Investors

Incorporated in 1991, National Health Investors, Inc. (NYSE:NHI) is a real estate investment trust specializing in sale, leasebacks, joint-ventures, senior housing operating partnerships, and mortgage and mezzanine financing of need-driven and discretionary senior housing and medical investments. NHI's portfolio consists of independent living, assisted living and memory care communities, entrance-fee retirement communities, skilled nursing facilities, and specialty hospitals.

About Summit Hotel Properties

Summit Hotel Properties, Inc. is a publicly traded real estate investment trust focused on owning premium-branded lodging properties with efficient operating models primarily in the upscale segment of the lodging industry. As of November 1, 2023, the Company’s portfolio consisted of 101 assets, 57 of which are wholly owned, with a total of 15,035 guestrooms located in 24 states.