Reviewing Safehold (NYSE:SAFE) & Four Corners Property Trust (NYSE:FCPT)

Four Corners Property Trust (NYSE:FCPT) and Safehold (NYSE:SAFE) are both real estate companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, risk, earnings, valuation and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Four Corners Property Trust and Safehold’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Four Corners Property Trust	38.70%	7.35%	4.05%
Safehold	27.70%	4.76%	1.62%

Dividends

Four Corners Property Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.47 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.8%. Safehold pays an annual dividend of $0.71 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.6%. Four Corners Property Trust pays out 132.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Safehold pays out 43.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Four Corners Property Trust has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years and Safehold has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Four Corners Property Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Four Corners Property Trust and Safehold”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Four Corners Property Trust	$294.13 million	9.44	$112.36 million	$1.11	22.79
Safehold	$385.55 million	2.84	$114.47 million	$1.62	9.55

Safehold has higher revenue and earnings than Four Corners Property Trust. Safehold is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Four Corners Property Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Four Corners Property Trust has a beta of 0.79, indicating that its stock price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Safehold has a beta of 1.75, indicating that its stock price is 75% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

98.7% of Four Corners Property Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.4% of Safehold shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.2% of Four Corners Property Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.8% of Safehold shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for Four Corners Property Trust and Safehold, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Four Corners Property Trust	0	5	5	0	2.50
Safehold	1	7	2	0	2.10

Four Corners Property Trust currently has a consensus price target of $27.80, suggesting a potential upside of 9.90%. Safehold has a consensus price target of $17.17, suggesting a potential upside of 11.00%. Given Safehold’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Safehold is more favorable than Four Corners Property Trust.

Summary

Four Corners Property Trust beats Safehold on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Four Corners Property Trust

Four Corners Property Trust, Inc. engages in the owning, acquisition, and leasing of properties for use in the restaurant and food-service related industries. It operates through the Real Estate Operations and Restaurant Operations segments. The Real Estate Operations segment consists of rental revenues generated by leasing restaurant properties. The Restaurant Operations segment includes the Kerrow Restaurant operating business. The company was founded on July 2, 2015 and is headquartered in Mill Valley, CA.

About Safehold

Safehold Inc. (NYSE: SAFE) is revolutionizing real estate ownership by providing a new and better way for owners to unlock the value of the land beneath their buildings. Having created the modern ground lease industry in 2017, Safehold continues to help owners of high quality multifamily, office, industrial, hospitality, student housing, life science and mixed-use properties generate higher returns with less risk. The Company, which is taxed as a real estate investment trust (REIT), seeks to deliver safe, growing income and long-term capital appreciation to its shareholders.