Sunrise Realty Trust (NASDAQ:SUNS) versus Ladder Capital (NYSE:LADR) Head to Head Comparison

Ladder Capital (NYSE:LADR) and Sunrise Realty Trust (NASDAQ:SUNS) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, dividends, risk and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Ladder Capital and Sunrise Realty Trust, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ladder Capital	0	3	4	0	2.57
Sunrise Realty Trust	1	3	0	0	1.75

Ladder Capital currently has a consensus price target of $12.29, suggesting a potential upside of 41.30%. Sunrise Realty Trust has a consensus price target of $6.50, suggesting a potential downside of 9.60%. Given Ladder Capital’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Ladder Capital is more favorable than Sunrise Realty Trust.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

62.3% of Ladder Capital shares are held by institutional investors. 12.6% of Ladder Capital shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 28.5% of Sunrise Realty Trust shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Ladder Capital pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.6%. Sunrise Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.29 per share and has a dividend yield of 17.9%. Ladder Capital pays out 115.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Sunrise Realty Trust pays out 146.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Profitability

This table compares Ladder Capital and Sunrise Realty Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ladder Capital	23.70%	6.98%	1.81%
Sunrise Realty Trust	49.15%	7.77%	4.37%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Ladder Capital and Sunrise Realty Trust”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ladder Capital	$390.29 million	2.81	$64.18 million	$0.80	10.87
Sunrise Realty Trust	$33.98 million	2.86	$12.14 million	$0.88	8.17

Ladder Capital has higher revenue and earnings than Sunrise Realty Trust. Sunrise Realty Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ladder Capital, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk and Volatility

Ladder Capital has a beta of 0.96, meaning that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sunrise Realty Trust has a beta of 1, meaning that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.

About Ladder Capital

Ladder Capital Corp. is a commercial real estate finance company organized as a real estate investment trust. It originates and invests in loans and other assets tied to commercial properties, with a focus on first mortgage loans secured by real estate. The company also invests in commercial mortgage-backed securities and U.S. government securities, and owns commercial real estate. Its lending and investment activities span property types and markets across the United States. Founded in 2008, Ladder Capital is headquartered in New York.

About Sunrise Realty Trust

Sunrise Realty Trust, Inc. is a real estate investment trust focused on commercial real estate finance. The company invests in and originates commercial real estate debt, seeking to generate income from loans and other investments secured by properties in the United States. Its investment activities are centered primarily on mortgage loans and other credit investments backed by commercial real estate. These investments may support the acquisition, refinancing, development, redevelopment or repositioning of properties, with the portfolio generally targeting opportunities in the middle-market commercial real estate sector.