Analyzing Clipper Realty (NYSE:CLPR) & Medalist Diversified REIT (NASDAQ:MDRR)

Clipper Realty (NYSE:CLPR) and Medalist Diversified REIT (NASDAQ:MDRR) are both small-cap 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.

Volatility and Risk

Clipper Realty has a beta of 0.98, indicating that its share price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Medalist Diversified REIT has a beta of 0.59, indicating that its share price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Clipper Realty and Medalist Diversified REIT”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Clipper Realty	$153.20 million	0.35	-$19.90 million	($1.37)	-2.44
Medalist Diversified REIT	$10.40 million	1.57	-$2.39 million	($1.84)	-6.19

Medalist Diversified REIT has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Clipper Realty. Medalist Diversified REIT is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Clipper Realty, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Clipper Realty and Medalist Diversified REIT’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Clipper Realty	-12.99%	N/A	-1.60%
Medalist Diversified REIT	-22.37%	-9.28%	-2.86%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

37.6% of Clipper Realty shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 17.4% of Medalist Diversified REIT shares are held by institutional investors. 53.0% of Clipper Realty shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 43.8% of Medalist Diversified REIT 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.

Dividends

Clipper Realty pays an annual dividend of $0.38 per share and has a dividend yield of 11.4%. Medalist Diversified REIT pays an annual dividend of $0.27 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Clipper Realty pays out -27.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Medalist Diversified REIT pays out -14.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Medalist Diversified REIT has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Clipper Realty is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Clipper Realty and Medalist Diversified REIT, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Clipper Realty	0	1	0	0	2.00
Medalist Diversified REIT	1	0	0	0	1.00

Summary

Clipper Realty beats Medalist Diversified REIT on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Clipper Realty

Clipper Realty Inc. (NYSE: CLPR) is a self-administered and self-managed real estate company that acquires, owns, manages, operates, and repositions multifamily residential and commercial properties in the New York metropolitan area, with a portfolio in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

About Medalist Diversified REIT

Medalist Diversified REIT Inc. is a Virginia-based real estate investment trust that specializes in acquiring, owning and managing commercial real estate in the Southeast region of the U.S. The Company's strategy is to focus on commercial real estate which is expected to provide an attractive balance of risk and returns. Medalist utilizes a rigorous, consistent and replicable process for sourcing and conducting due diligence of acquisitions.