Head to Head Contrast: American Realty Investors (NYSE:ARL) vs. FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV)

FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV) and American Realty Investors (NYSE:ARL) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for FirstService and American Realty Investors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
FirstService	0	2	6	0	2.75
American Realty Investors	0	1	0	0	2.00

FirstService presently has a consensus target price of $211.83, indicating a potential upside of 39.91%. Given FirstService’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe FirstService is more favorable than American Realty Investors.

Profitability

This table compares FirstService and American Realty Investors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
FirstService	2.53%	17.98%	5.21%
American Realty Investors	11.74%	0.33%	0.25%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares FirstService and American Realty Investors”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
FirstService	$5.22 billion	1.33	$134.38 million	$3.02	50.14
American Realty Investors	$47.32 million	6.18	-$14.70 million	$0.36	50.31

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

Risk & Volatility

FirstService has a beta of 1.06, indicating that its share price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Realty Investors has a beta of 0.69, indicating that its share price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

69.4% of FirstService shares are held by institutional investors. 90.8% of American Realty Investors 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.

Summary

FirstService beats American Realty Investors on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About FirstService

FirstService Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides residential property management and other essential property services to residential and commercial customers in the United States and Canada. It operates through two segments: FirstService Residential and FirstService Brands. The FirstService Residential segment offers services for private residential communities, such as condominiums, co-operatives, homeowner associations, master-planned communities, active adult and lifestyle communities, and various other residential developments. This segment provides a range of ancillary services, including on-site staffing for building engineering and maintenance, full-service amenity management, and security and concierge/front desk; and financial services comprising cash management, other banking transaction-related, and specialized property insurance brokerage. In addition, this segment offers energy management solutions and advisory services, and resale processing services. Its FirstService Brands segment operates and provides essential property services to residential and commercial customers through franchise networks; and company-owned operations, including California Closets, Paul Davis Restoration, and CertaPro Painters operations. It provides residential and commercial restoration, painting, and floor coverings design and installation services; custom-designed and installed closet, and home storage solutions; home inspection services; and fire protection and related services. This segment offers its services primarily under the Paul Davis Restoration, Roofing Corp of America, First Onsite property Restoration, Century Fire Protection, CertaPro Painters, California Closets, Pillar to Post Home Inspectors, and Floor Coverings International brand names. FirstService Corporation was incorporated in 1988 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

About American Realty Investors

American Realty Investors, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, acquires, develops, owns, and manages multifamily and commercial real estate properties in the Southern United States. It operates through two segments, Residential and Commercial. The company leases apartment units to residents; and office, industrial, and retail space to various for-profit businesses, as well as local, state, and federal agencies. It also offers tenant services, including parking and storage space rental; and sells land and properties. The company was incorporated in 1999 and is based in Dallas, Texas. American Realty Investors, Inc. is a subsidiary of Realty Advisors, Inc.