Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:PECO) vs. Gladstone Land (NASDAQ:LAND) Critical Comparison

Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:PECO) and Gladstone Land (NASDAQ:LAND) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, valuation, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. and Gladstone Land”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.	$661.39 million	6.53	$62.69 million	$0.50	69.04
Gladstone Land	$85.22 million	3.87	$14.56 million	($0.29)	-31.45

Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. has higher revenue and earnings than Gladstone Land. Gladstone Land is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Phillips Edison & Company, Inc., indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

80.7% of Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 53.6% of Gladstone Land shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.0% of Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.2% of Gladstone Land 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.

Profitability

This table compares Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. and Gladstone Land’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.	9.48%	2.40%	1.27%
Gladstone Land	15.59%	1.89%	0.99%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. and Gladstone Land, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.	0	3	3	0	2.50
Gladstone Land	0	2	1	0	2.33

Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. presently has a consensus price target of $38.83, suggesting a potential upside of 12.50%. Gladstone Land has a consensus price target of $15.50, suggesting a potential upside of 69.96%. Given Gladstone Land’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Gladstone Land is more favorable than Phillips Edison & Company, Inc..

Risk & Volatility

Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. has a beta of 0.57, indicating that its share price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Gladstone Land has a beta of 1.15, indicating that its share price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. pays an annual dividend of $1.23 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Gladstone Land pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.1%. Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. pays out 246.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Gladstone Land pays out -193.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Gladstone Land is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. beats Gladstone Land on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.

Phillips Edison & Co., Inc. is a real estate investment trust, which engages in the ownership and operation of shopping centers. It also offers an investment management business providing property management and advisory services. Its portfolio consists of well-occupied, grocery-anchored neighborhood and community shopping centers having a mix of national, regional, and local retailers offering necessity-based goods and services. The company was founded by Jeffrey S. Edison and Michael C. Phillips in 1991 and is headquartered in Cincinnati, OH.

About Gladstone Land

Founded in 1997, Gladstone Land is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that acquires and owns farmland and farm-related properties located in major agricultural markets in the U.S. and leases its properties to unrelated third-party farmers. The Company, which reports the aggregate fair value of its farmland holdings on a quarterly basis, currently owns 169 farms, comprised of approximately 116,000 acres in 15 different states and over 45,000 acre-feet of banked water in California, valued at a total of approximately $1.6 billion. Gladstone Land’s farms are predominantly located in regions where its tenants are able to grow fresh produce annual row crops, such as berries and vegetables, which are generally planted and harvested annually. The Company also owns farms growing permanent crops, such as almonds, apples, cherries, figs, lemons, olives, pistachios, and other orchards, as well as blueberry groves and vineyards, which are generally planted every 20-plus years and harvested annually. Approximately 40% of the Company’s fresh produce acreage is either organic or in transition to become organic, and over 10% of its permanent crop acreage falls into this category. The Company may also acquire property related to farming, such as cooling facilities, processing buildings, packaging facilities, and distribution centers. Gladstone Land pays monthly distributions to its stockholders and has paid 129 consecutive monthly cash distributions on its common stock since its initial public offering in January 2013. The Company has increased its common distributions 32 times over the prior 35 quarters, and the current per-share distribution on its common stock is $0.0464 per month, or $0.5568 per year.