Critical Analysis: Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD) versus Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD) and Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, risk and earnings.

Dividends

Americold Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Equity Residential pays an annual dividend of $2.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Americold Realty Trust pays out -87.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Equity Residential pays out 110.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Americold Realty Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for Americold Realty Trust and Equity Residential, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Americold Realty Trust	0	2	9	0	2.82
Equity Residential	0	11	8	0	2.42

Americold Realty Trust presently has a consensus price target of $30.73, indicating a potential upside of 40.63%. Equity Residential has a consensus price target of $77.25, indicating a potential upside of 4.97%. Given Americold Realty Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Americold Realty Trust is more favorable than Equity Residential.

Volatility & Risk

Americold Realty Trust has a beta of 0.61, meaning that its stock price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Equity Residential has a beta of 0.9, meaning that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Americold Realty Trust and Equity Residential’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Americold Realty Trust	-10.63%	-8.08%	-3.64%
Equity Residential	31.57%	8.31%	4.61%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Americold Realty Trust and Equity Residential”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Americold Realty Trust	$2.67 billion	2.32	-$336.21 million	($1.01)	-21.63
Equity Residential	$2.87 billion	9.72	$835.44 million	$2.44	30.16

Equity Residential has higher revenue and earnings than Americold Realty Trust. Americold Realty Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Equity Residential, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

98.1% of Americold Realty Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.7% of Equity Residential shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Americold Realty Trust shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Equity Residential shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Equity Residential beats Americold Realty Trust on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Americold Realty Trust

Americold is a global leader in temperature-controlled logistics real estate and value added services. Focused on the ownership, operation, acquisition and development of temperature-controlled warehouses, Americold owns and/or operates 245 temperature-controlled warehouses, with approximately 1.5 billion refrigerated cubic feet of storage, in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and South America. Americold's facilities are an integral component of the supply chain connecting food producers, processors, distributors and retailers to consumers.

About Equity Residential

Equity Residential is committed to creating communities where people thrive. The Company, a member of the S&P 500, is focused on the acquisition, development and management of residential properties located in and around dynamic cities that attract affluent long-term renters. Equity Residential owns or has investments in 305 properties consisting of 80,683 apartment units, with an established presence in Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., Seattle, San Francisco and Southern California, and an expanding presence in Denver, Atlanta, Dallas/Ft. Worth and Austin.