W.P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) versus United Development Funding IV (OTCMKTS:UDFI) Financial Survey

United Development Funding IV (OTCMKTS:UDFI) and W.P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) are both real estate companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, risk and dividends.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

73.7% of W.P. Carey shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of United Development Funding IV shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of W.P. Carey 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.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares United Development Funding IV and W.P. Carey”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
United Development Funding IV	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
W.P. Carey	$1.72 billion	9.51	$466.36 million	$2.93	24.46

W.P. Carey has higher revenue and earnings than United Development Funding IV.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for United Development Funding IV and W.P. Carey, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
United Development Funding IV	0	0	0	0	0.00
W.P. Carey	1	6	7	0	2.43

W.P. Carey has a consensus target price of $79.38, suggesting a potential upside of 10.79%. Given W.P. Carey’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe W.P. Carey is more favorable than United Development Funding IV.

Profitability

This table compares United Development Funding IV and W.P. Carey’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
United Development Funding IV	N/A	N/A	N/A
W.P. Carey	36.34%	7.81%	3.58%

Summary

W.P. Carey beats United Development Funding IV on 9 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About United Development Funding IV

United Development Funding IV invests in secured loans for the acquisition and development of land into single-family home lots, and the construction of model and new single-family homes. It also makes equity investments in residential real estate. The company has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust. As a result, it would not be subject to corporate income tax on that portion of its net income that is distributed to shareholders. United Development Funding IV was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Grapevine, Texas.

About W.P. Carey

W. P. Carey ranks among the largest net lease REITs with a well-diversified portfolio of high-quality, operationally critical commercial real estate, which includes 1,424 net lease properties covering approximately 173 million square feet and a portfolio of 89 self-storage operating properties as of December 31, 2023. With offices in New York, London, Amsterdam and Dallas, the company remains focused on investing primarily in single-tenant, industrial, warehouse and retail properties located in the U.S. and Northern and Western Europe, under long-term net leases with built-in rent escalations.