Reviewing Saul Centers (NYSE:BFS) and Horizon Group Properties (OTCMKTS:HGPI)

Saul Centers (NYSE:BFS) and Horizon Group Properties (OTCMKTS:HGPI) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, valuation, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Saul Centers and Horizon Group Properties, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Saul Centers	0	0	1	0	3.00
Horizon Group Properties	0	0	0	0	0.00

Saul Centers presently has a consensus target price of $45.50, suggesting a potential upside of 41.58%. Given Saul Centers’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Saul Centers is more favorable than Horizon Group Properties.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Saul Centers and Horizon Group Properties”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Saul Centers	$268.85 million	2.89	$52.69 million	$1.63	19.72
Horizon Group Properties	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Saul Centers has higher revenue and earnings than Horizon Group Properties.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

50.0% of Saul Centers shares are held by institutional investors. 56.6% of Saul Centers shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 15.9% of Horizon Group Properties shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Saul Centers and Horizon Group Properties’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Saul Centers	20.84%	17.16%	2.72%
Horizon Group Properties	N/A	N/A	N/A

Risk and Volatility

Saul Centers has a beta of 0.97, indicating that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Horizon Group Properties has a beta of 0.17, indicating that its stock price is 83% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Saul Centers beats Horizon Group Properties on 10 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Saul Centers

Saul Centers is a self-managed, self-administered equity REIT headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland. Saul Centers currently operates and manages a real estate portfolio comprised of 61 properties that includes (a) 57 community and neighborhood Shopping Centers and Mixed-Use properties with approximately 9.8 million square feet of leasable area and (b) four land and development properties. Over 85% of the Company’s property operating income is generated from properties in the metropolitan Washington, DC/Baltimore area.

About Horizon Group Properties

Based in Chicago, Illinois, Horizon Group Properties, Inc. has 12 operating factory outlet centers and one power center in 10 states totaling more than 2.6 million square feet.