Critical Review: Ryman Hospitality Properties (NYSE:RHP) vs. Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (NYSE:PEB)

Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (NYSE:PEB) and Ryman Hospitality Properties (NYSE:RHP) are both mid-cap real estate companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Pebblebrook Hotel Trust and Ryman Hospitality Properties, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Pebblebrook Hotel Trust	3	8	3	1	2.13
Ryman Hospitality Properties	0	0	12	0	3.00

Pebblebrook Hotel Trust presently has a consensus price target of $17.37, suggesting a potential downside of 4.27%. Ryman Hospitality Properties has a consensus price target of $131.27, suggesting a potential upside of 3.58%. Given Ryman Hospitality Properties’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Ryman Hospitality Properties is more favorable than Pebblebrook Hotel Trust.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

94.5% of Ryman Hospitality Properties shares are held by institutional investors. 3.7% of Pebblebrook Hotel Trust shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.2% of Ryman Hospitality Properties shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

Pebblebrook Hotel Trust has a beta of 1.4, suggesting that its stock price is 40% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ryman Hospitality Properties has a beta of 1.2, suggesting that its stock price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Pebblebrook Hotel Trust and Ryman Hospitality Properties”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Pebblebrook Hotel Trust	$1.50 billion	1.36	-$65.81 million	($0.69)	-26.29
Ryman Hospitality Properties	$2.74 billion	2.92	$243.43 million	$4.09	30.99

Ryman Hospitality Properties has higher revenue and earnings than Pebblebrook Hotel Trust. Pebblebrook Hotel Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ryman Hospitality Properties, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Pebblebrook Hotel Trust and Ryman Hospitality Properties’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Pebblebrook Hotel Trust	-3.11%	-1.83%	-0.87%
Ryman Hospitality Properties	9.91%	34.54%	4.39%

Dividends

Pebblebrook Hotel Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Ryman Hospitality Properties pays an annual dividend of $4.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Pebblebrook Hotel Trust pays out -5.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ryman Hospitality Properties pays out 117.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Ryman Hospitality Properties has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Ryman Hospitality Properties is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Ryman Hospitality Properties beats Pebblebrook Hotel Trust on 14 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Pebblebrook Hotel Trust

Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (NYSE: PEB) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust ("REIT") and the largest owner of urban and resort lifestyle hotels and resorts in the United States. The Company owns 47 hotels and resorts, totaling approximately 12,200 guest rooms across 13 urban and resort markets.

About Ryman Hospitality Properties

Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc. (NYSE: RHP) is a leading lodging and hospitality real estate investment trust that specializes in upscale convention center resorts and entertainment experiences. The Company's holdings include Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center; Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center; Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center; Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center; and Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center, five of the top seven largest non-gaming convention center hotels in the United States based on total indoor meeting space. The Company also owns the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa as well as two ancillary hotels adjacent to our Gaylord Hotels properties. The Company's hotel portfolio is managed by Marriott International and includes a combined total of 11,414 rooms as well as more than 3 million square feet of total indoor and outdoor meeting space in top convention and leisure destinations across the country. RHP also owns a 70% controlling ownership interest in Opry Entertainment Group (OEG), which is composed of entities owning a growing collection of iconic and emerging country music brands, including the Grand Ole Opry, Ryman Auditorium, WSM 650 AM, Ole Red, Nashville-area attractions, and Block 21, a mixed-use entertainment, lodging, office and retail complex, including the W Austin Hotel and the ACL Live at the Moody Theater, located in downtown Austin, Texas. RHP operates OEG as its Entertainment segment in a taxable REIT subsidiary, and its results are consolidated in the Company's financial results.