Critical Contrast: COPT Defense Properties (CDP) & Its Rivals

COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) is one of 59 public companies in the “Office REITs” industry, but how does it contrast to its rivals? We will compare COPT Defense Properties to related businesses based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, earnings and valuation.

Risk and Volatility

COPT Defense Properties has a beta of 0.79, indicating that its stock price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, COPT Defense Properties’ rivals have a beta of 1.02, indicating that their average stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

COPT Defense Properties pays an annual dividend of $1.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. COPT Defense Properties pays out 86.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. As a group, “Office REITs” companies pay a dividend yield of 4.8% and pay out -556.7% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. COPT Defense Properties lags its rivals as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for COPT Defense Properties and its rivals, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
COPT Defense Properties	0	3	6	0	2.67
COPT Defense Properties Competitors	946	2835	2691	25	2.28

COPT Defense Properties currently has a consensus target price of $37.50, indicating a potential upside of 13.33%. As a group, “Office REITs” companies have a potential upside of 1.48%. Given COPT Defense Properties’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe COPT Defense Properties is more favorable than its rivals.

Profitability

This table compares COPT Defense Properties and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
COPT Defense Properties	21.17%	10.80%	3.73%
COPT Defense Properties Competitors	-16.89%	-7.45%	-0.14%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares COPT Defense Properties and its rivals revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
COPT Defense Properties	$763.92 million	$152.32 million	22.36
COPT Defense Properties Competitors	$530.34 million	-$49.56 million	15.00

COPT Defense Properties has higher revenue and earnings than its rivals. COPT Defense Properties is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

61.2% of shares of all “Office REITs” companies are held by institutional investors. 1.7% of COPT Defense Properties shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 8.7% of shares of all “Office REITs” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

COPT Defense Properties beats its rivals on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

COPT Defense Properties Company Profile

COPT Defense Properties is a real estate investment trust that owns, operates and develops properties primarily for tenants in the U.S. defense, intelligence and information technology sectors. Its portfolio includes office and other mission-critical facilities designed to support government agencies and the contractors and technology companies that serve them. The company’s properties are concentrated in locations with significant defense and government activity, including the greater Washington, D.C., region and other U.S. markets.