Critical Survey: Curbline Properties (NYSE:CURB) & Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:PECO)

Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:PECO) and Curbline Properties (NYSE:CURB) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability and dividends.

Volatility & Risk

Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. has a beta of 0.54, indicating that its share price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Curbline Properties has a beta of 0.52, indicating that its share price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

80.7% of Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. shares are held by institutional investors. 8.1% of Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 8.7% of Curbline Properties shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. and Curbline Properties, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.	0	5	4	0	2.44
Curbline Properties	0	2	7	0	2.78

Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. presently has a consensus price target of $40.00, suggesting a potential upside of 0.73%. Curbline Properties has a consensus price target of $29.44, suggesting a potential upside of 5.14%. Given Curbline Properties’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Curbline Properties is more favorable than Phillips Edison & Company, Inc..

Profitability

This table compares Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. and Curbline Properties’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.	15.61%	4.46%	2.18%
Curbline Properties	16.24%	1.74%	1.38%

Dividends

Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. pays an annual dividend of $1.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Curbline Properties pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. pays out 141.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Curbline Properties pays out 219.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. and Curbline Properties”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.	$739.02 million	6.76	$111.30 million	$0.92	43.16
Curbline Properties	$182.89 million	16.16	$39.83 million	$0.31	90.34

Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. has higher revenue and earnings than Curbline Properties. Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Curbline Properties, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. beats Curbline Properties on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.

Phillips Edison & Co., Inc. is a real estate investment trust, which engages in the ownership and operation of shopping centers. It also offers an investment management business providing property management and advisory services. Its portfolio consists of well-occupied, grocery-anchored neighborhood and community shopping centers having a mix of national, regional, and local retailers offering necessity-based goods and services. The company was founded by Jeffrey S. Edison and Michael C. Phillips in 1991 and is headquartered in Cincinnati, OH.

About Curbline Properties

Curbline Properties Corp. is a real estate investment trust which is an owner and manager of convenience shopping centers positioned on the curbline of well-trafficked intersections and major vehicular corridors in suburban. Curbline Properties Corp. is based in NEW YORK.