Reviewing Orion Office REIT (NYSE:ONL) and Douglas Emmett (NYSE:DEI)

Douglas Emmett (NYSE:DEI) and Orion Office REIT (NYSE:ONL) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, valuation, profitability, risk and institutional ownership.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

97.4% of Douglas Emmett shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.0% of Orion Office REIT shares are owned by institutional investors. 14.7% of Douglas Emmett shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Orion Office REIT shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

Douglas Emmett has a beta of 1.1, suggesting that its share price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Orion Office REIT has a beta of 0.99, suggesting that its share price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Douglas Emmett and Orion Office REIT”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Douglas Emmett	$1.02 billion	3.21	-$42.71 million	($0.10)	-195.80
Orion Office REIT	$195.04 million	1.20	-$57.30 million	($1.54)	-2.73

Douglas Emmett has higher revenue and earnings than Orion Office REIT. Douglas Emmett is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Orion Office REIT, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Douglas Emmett and Orion Office REIT’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Douglas Emmett	-1.68%	-0.43%	-0.17%
Orion Office REIT	-50.76%	-10.28%	-6.26%

Dividends

Douglas Emmett pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Orion Office REIT pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.5%. Douglas Emmett pays out -760.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Orion Office REIT pays out -26.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Douglas Emmett and Orion Office REIT, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Douglas Emmett	0	5	2	0	2.29
Orion Office REIT	0	1	0	0	2.00

Douglas Emmett presently has a consensus target price of $17.43, indicating a potential downside of 10.99%. Given Douglas Emmett’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Douglas Emmett is more favorable than Orion Office REIT.

Summary

Douglas Emmett beats Orion Office REIT on 14 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Douglas Emmett

Douglas Emmett, Inc. (DEI) is a fully integrated, self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT), and one of the largest owners and operators of high-quality office and multifamily properties located in the premier coastal submarkets of Los Angeles and Honolulu. Douglas Emmett focuses on owning and acquiring a substantial share of top-tier office properties and premier multifamily communities in neighborhoods that possess significant supply constraints, high-end executive housing and key lifestyle amenities.

About Orion Office REIT

Orion Office REIT specializes in the ownership, acquisition and management of a diversified portfolio of mission-critical and corporate headquarters office buildings in high-quality suburban markets across the U.S. The portfolio is leased primarily on a single-tenant net lease basis to creditworthy tenants. The company's team of experienced industry leaders employs a proven, cycle-tested investment evaluation framework which serves as the lens through which capital allocation decisions are made for the current portfolio and future acquisitions.