Critical Contrast: Farmland Partners (NYSE:FPI) vs. InvenTrust Properties (NYSE:IVT)

Farmland Partners (NYSE:FPI) and InvenTrust Properties (NYSE:IVT) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, earnings, risk and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Farmland Partners and InvenTrust Properties, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Farmland Partners	0	2	0	0	2.00
InvenTrust Properties	0	3	4	0	2.57

InvenTrust Properties has a consensus price target of $31.60, indicating a potential upside of 1.15%. Given InvenTrust Properties’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe InvenTrust Properties is more favorable than Farmland Partners.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Farmland Partners and InvenTrust Properties”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Farmland Partners	$52.18 million	10.83	$31.55 million	$0.60	21.63
InvenTrust Properties	$299.17 million	8.11	$111.42 million	$1.43	21.85

InvenTrust Properties has higher revenue and earnings than Farmland Partners. Farmland Partners is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than InvenTrust Properties, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Farmland Partners has a beta of 0.79, meaning that its share price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, InvenTrust Properties has a beta of 0.86, meaning that its share price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Farmland Partners and InvenTrust Properties’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Farmland Partners	60.46%	6.67%	4.14%
InvenTrust Properties	37.24%	6.22%	4.11%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

58.0% of Farmland Partners shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.7% of InvenTrust Properties shares are held by institutional investors. 7.7% of Farmland Partners shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of InvenTrust Properties shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Farmland Partners pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. InvenTrust Properties pays an annual dividend of $0.95 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Farmland Partners pays out 40.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. InvenTrust Properties pays out 66.4% 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. InvenTrust Properties has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years. InvenTrust Properties is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

InvenTrust Properties beats Farmland Partners on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Farmland Partners

Farmland Partners Inc. is an internally managed real estate company that owns and seeks to acquire high-quality North American farmland and makes loans to farmers secured by farm real estate. As of December 31, 2023, the Company owns and/or manages approximately 171,100 acres in 16 states, including Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas. In addition, the Company owns land and buildings for four agriculture equipment dealerships in Ohio leased to Ag Pro under the John Deere brand. The Company has approximately 26 crop types and over 100 tenants. The Company elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust, or REIT, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, commencing with the taxable year ended December 31, 2014.

About InvenTrust Properties

InvenTrust Properties Corp. (the “Company,” “IVT,” or “InvenTrust”) is a premier Sun Belt, multi-tenant essential retail REIT that owns, leases, redevelops, acquires and manages grocery-anchored neighborhood and community centers as well as high-quality power centers that often have a grocery component. Management pursues the Company’s business strategy by acquiring retail properties in Sun Belt markets, opportunistically disposing of retail properties, maintaining a flexible capital structure, and enhancing environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) practices and standards. A trusted, local operator bringing real estate expertise to its tenant relationships, IVT has built a strong reputation with market participants across its portfolio. IVT is committed to leadership in ESG practices and has been a Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (“GRESB”) member since 2013.