Comparing Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) & alstria office REIT (OTCMKTS:ALSRF)

alstria office REIT (OTCMKTS:ALSRF) and Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) are both real estate companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for alstria office REIT and Cousins Properties, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
alstria office REIT	0	0	0	0	0.00
Cousins Properties	0	3	7	0	2.70

Cousins Properties has a consensus target price of $31.09, suggesting a potential upside of 6.40%. Given Cousins Properties’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Cousins Properties is more favorable than alstria office REIT.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

94.4% of Cousins Properties shares are held by institutional investors. 1.8% of Cousins Properties shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares alstria office REIT and Cousins Properties’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
alstria office REIT	N/A	N/A	N/A
Cousins Properties	0.62%	0.14%	0.07%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares alstria office REIT and Cousins Properties”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
alstria office REIT	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Cousins Properties	$993.82 million	4.84	$40.50 million	$0.04	730.50

Cousins Properties has higher revenue and earnings than alstria office REIT.

Summary

Cousins Properties beats alstria office REIT on 9 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About alstria office REIT

alstria office REIT AG is the leading real-estate operator focusing solely on German office property in selected German markets. Our strategy is based on the ownership and an active management of our properties throughout their entire life cycle, strong added-value services to our customers and deep knowledge of the markets in which we operate. alstria strives for sustainable long-term value creation while taking advantage of short-term arbitrage of inefficiencies in the real estate markets.

About Cousins Properties

Cousins Properties Incorporated ("Cousins") is a fully integrated, self-administered, and self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT). The Company, based in Atlanta and acting through its operating partnership, Cousins Properties LP, primarily invests in Class A office buildings located in high-growth Sun Belt markets. Founded in 1958, Cousins creates shareholder value through its extensive expertise in the development, acquisition, leasing, and management of high-quality real estate assets. The Company has a comprehensive strategy in place based on a simple platform, trophy assets, and opportunistic investments.