Critical Review: Hudson Pacific Properties (NYSE:HPP) vs. COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP)

Hudson Pacific Properties (NYSE:HPP) and COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) are both real estate companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, valuation, dividends, institutional ownership and risk.

Volatility & Risk

Hudson Pacific Properties has a beta of 1.89, meaning that its share price is 89% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, COPT Defense Properties has a beta of 0.76, meaning that its share price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Hudson Pacific Properties and COPT Defense Properties”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hudson Pacific Properties	$831.10 million	0.82	-$561.69 million	($8.85)	-1.43
COPT Defense Properties	$763.92 million	5.21	$152.32 million	$1.44	24.39

COPT Defense Properties has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Hudson Pacific Properties. Hudson Pacific Properties is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than COPT Defense Properties, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Hudson Pacific Properties and COPT Defense Properties’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hudson Pacific Properties	-70.04%	-20.76%	-7.73%
COPT Defense Properties	20.94%	10.48%	3.64%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Hudson Pacific Properties and COPT Defense Properties, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hudson Pacific Properties	3	5	4	1	2.23
COPT Defense Properties	0	3	5	0	2.62

Hudson Pacific Properties presently has a consensus price target of $15.82, suggesting a potential upside of 25.23%. COPT Defense Properties has a consensus price target of $37.38, suggesting a potential upside of 6.42%. Given Hudson Pacific Properties’ higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Hudson Pacific Properties is more favorable than COPT Defense Properties.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

97.6% of Hudson Pacific Properties shares are held by institutional investors. 2.5% of Hudson Pacific Properties shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.7% of COPT Defense Properties shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

COPT Defense Properties beats Hudson Pacific Properties on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Hudson Pacific Properties

Hudson Pacific Properties (NYSE: HPP) is a real estate investment trust serving dynamic tech and media tenants in global epicenters for these synergistic, converging and secular growth industries. Hudson Pacific's unique and high-barrier tech and media focus leverages a full-service, end-to-end value creation platform forged through deep strategic relationships and niche expertise across identifying, acquiring, transforming and developing properties into world-class amenitized, collaborative and sustainable office and studio space.

About COPT Defense Properties

COPT Defense Properties is a real estate investment trust. It acquires, develops, manages, sells, and leases out office properties and data centers. The firm operates through the following segments: Defense/Information Technology Locations, Regional Office, Wholesale Data Center, and Other. The company was founded on January 22,1988 and is headquartered in Columbia, MD.