Reviewing Empire State Realty Trust (NYSE:ESRT) & Creative Media & Community Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCT)

Creative Media & Community Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCT) and Empire State Realty Trust (NYSE:ESRT) are both small-cap real estate companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk and profitability.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

28.3% of Creative Media & Community Trust Corporation shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.1% of Empire State Realty Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 10.9% of Creative Media & Community Trust Corporation shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 15.2% of Empire State Realty Trust shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Creative Media & Community Trust Corporation and Empire State Realty Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Creative Media & Community Trust Corporation	1	1	0	0	1.50
Empire State Realty Trust	2	1	0	0	1.33

Empire State Realty Trust has a consensus target price of $5.00, suggesting a potential downside of 0.70%. Given Empire State Realty Trust’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Empire State Realty Trust is more favorable than Creative Media & Community Trust Corporation.

Dividends

Creative Media & Community Trust Corporation pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 49.7%. Empire State Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.14 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Creative Media & Community Trust Corporation pays out -0.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Empire State Realty Trust pays out 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. Creative Media & Community Trust Corporation is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Creative Media & Community Trust Corporation and Empire State Realty Trust”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Creative Media & Community Trust Corporation	$113.78 million	0.08	-$39.00 million	($3,546.55)	-0.00
Empire State Realty Trust	$768.27 million	1.13	$47.60 million	$0.07	71.93

Empire State Realty Trust has higher revenue and earnings than Creative Media & Community Trust Corporation. Creative Media & Community Trust Corporation is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Empire State Realty Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Creative Media & Community Trust Corporation has a beta of 1.07, meaning that its stock price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Empire State Realty Trust has a beta of 1.4, meaning that its stock price is 40% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Creative Media & Community Trust Corporation and Empire State Realty Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Creative Media & Community Trust Corporation	-36.99%	-60.85%	-5.09%
Empire State Realty Trust	0.93%	0.40%	0.17%

Summary

Empire State Realty Trust beats Creative Media & Community Trust Corporation on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Creative Media & Community Trust Corporation

Creative Media & Community Trust Corp. is a real estate investment trust that seeks to own, operate, and develop premier multifamily and creative office assets in vibrant and emerging communities throughout the United States. It operates through the following segments: Office, Hotel, and Lending. The Office segment consists of the rental of office space and other tenant services, including tenant reimbursements, parking, and storage space rental. The Hotel segment involves the operation of hotel properties. The Lending segment focuses on loans to small businesses. The company was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Dallas, TX.

About Empire State Realty Trust

Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: ESRT) is a NYC-focused REIT that owns and operates a portfolio of modernized, amenitized, and well-located office, retail, and multifamily assets. The company is the recognized leader in energy efficiency and indoor environmental quality. ESRT’s flagship Empire State Building – the “World’s Most Famous Building” – includes its Observatory, Tripadvisor’s 2023 Travelers’ Choice Awards: Best of the Best the #1 attraction in the US for two consecutive years. As of September 30, 2023, ESRT’s portfolio is comprised of approximately 8.6 million rentable square feet of office space, 0.7 million rentable square feet of retail space and 727 residential units across three multifamily properties.