Reviewing First Industrial Realty Trust (NYSE:FR) & Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP)

First Industrial Realty Trust (NYSE:FR) and Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares First Industrial Realty Trust and Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Industrial Realty Trust	33.18%	8.65%	4.38%
Brookfield Infrastructure Partners	3.70%	2.74%	0.75%

Risk and Volatility

First Industrial Realty Trust has a beta of 1.14, meaning that its stock price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a beta of 1.1, meaning that its stock price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for First Industrial Realty Trust and Brookfield Infrastructure Partners, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Industrial Realty Trust	0	5	7	0	2.58
Brookfield Infrastructure Partners	0	3	4	1	2.75

First Industrial Realty Trust presently has a consensus price target of $62.46, suggesting a potential upside of 7.35%. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a consensus price target of $41.14, suggesting a potential upside of 13.24%. Given Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Brookfield Infrastructure Partners is more favorable than First Industrial Realty Trust.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares First Industrial Realty Trust and Brookfield Infrastructure Partners”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
First Industrial Realty Trust	$669.64 million	11.51	$287.55 million	$1.79	32.50
Brookfield Infrastructure Partners	$21.04 billion	0.80	$351.00 million	$0.67	54.23

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

99.9% of First Industrial Realty Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 57.9% of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of First Industrial Realty Trust shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

First Industrial Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.78 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners pays an annual dividend of $1.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.7%. First Industrial Realty Trust pays out 99.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners pays out 256.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. First Industrial Realty Trust has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years and Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has increased its dividend for 18 consecutive years. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

First Industrial Realty Trust beats Brookfield Infrastructure Partners on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About First Industrial Realty Trust

First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: FR) is a leading U.S.-only owner, operator, developer and acquirer of logistics properties. Through our fully integrated operating and investing platform, we provide high quality facilities and industry-leading customer service to multinational corporations and regional firms that are essential for their supply chains. Our portfolio and new investments are concentrated in 15 target MSAs with an emphasis on supply-constrained, coastally oriented markets. In total, we own and have under development approximately 68.5 million square feet of industrial space as of December 31, 2023.

About Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. owns and operates utilities, transport, midstream, and data businesses in North and South America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company's Utilities segment operates approximately 2,900 km of electricity transmission lines; 4,200 km of natural gas pipelines; 8.1 million electricity and natural gas connections; and 0.6 million long-term contracted sub-metering services. This segment also offers heating, cooling, and energy solutions; gas distribution; water heaters; and heating, ventilation, and air conditioner rental, as well as other home services. Its Transport segment offers transportation, storage, and handling services for merchandise goods, commodities, and passengers through a network of approximately 22,000 km of track; 5,500 km of track network; 9,800 km of rail; and 3,300 km of motorways. The company's Midstream segment offers natural gas transmission, gathering and processing, and storage services through approximately 15,000 km of natural gas transmission pipelines; 570 billion cubic feet of natural gas storage; 17 natural gas processing plants; and 10,600 km of gas gathering pipelines, as well as 525,000 tonnes polypropylene production capacity. Its Data segment operates approximately 228,000 operational telecom towers; approximately 54,000 kilometers of fiber optic cables; approximately 1 million fiber-to-the-premise connections; two semiconductor manufacturing facilities; and 70 distributed antenna systems, as well as 135 data centers and 750 megawatts of critical load capacity and an additional approximate 670 megawatts of contracted capacity. The company was incorporated in 2007 and is based in Hamilton, Bermuda. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. operates as a subsidiary of Brookfield Corporation.