Head to Head Survey: Realty Income (O) vs. Its Competitors

Realty Income (NYSE:O) is one of 85 publicly-traded companies in the “Retail REITs” industry, but how does it compare to its peers? We will compare Realty Income to related companies based on the strength of its valuation, earnings, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and profitability.

Risk and Volatility

Realty Income has a beta of 0.65, indicating that its share price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Realty Income’s peers have a beta of 0.88, indicating that their average share price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Realty Income and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Realty Income	$5.75 billion	$1.06 billion	41.06
Realty Income Competitors	$816.04 million	$253.68 million	9.06

Realty Income has higher revenue and earnings than its peers. Realty Income is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Dividends

Realty Income pays an annual dividend of $3.26 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.5%. Realty Income pays out 224.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. As a group, “Retail REITs” companies pay a dividend yield of 230.4% and pay out 78.0% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Realty Income has raised its dividend for 31 consecutive years. Realty Income lags its peers as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Realty Income and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Realty Income	21.85%	3.27%	1.80%
Realty Income Competitors	31.33%	6.25%	3.34%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

70.8% of Realty Income shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 59.3% of shares of all “Retail REITs” companies are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of Realty Income shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 11.5% of shares of all “Retail REITs” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Realty Income and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Realty Income	1	9	5	3	2.56
Realty Income Competitors	963	3975	3449	138	2.32

Realty Income currently has a consensus price target of $71.51, suggesting a potential upside of 20.13%. As a group, “Retail REITs” companies have a potential upside of 8.71%. Given Realty Income’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Realty Income is more favorable than its peers.

Summary

Realty Income peers beat Realty Income on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

About Realty Income

Realty Income, The Monthly Dividend Company, is an S&P 500 company and member of the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats index. We invest in people and places to deliver dependable monthly dividends that increase over time. The company is structured as a real estate investment trust (“REIT”), and its monthly dividends are supported by the cash flow from over 15,450 real estate properties (including properties acquired in the Spirit merger in January 2024) primarily owned under long-term net lease agreements with commercial clients. To date, the company has declared 644 consecutive monthly dividends on its shares of common stock throughout its 55-year operating history and increased the dividend 123 times since Realty Income’s public listing in 1994 (NYSE: O).