Contrasting Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) and Farmland Partners (NYSE:FPI)

Farmland Partners (NYSE:FPI) and Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) are both real estate companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Dividends

Farmland Partners pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Crown Castle pays an annual dividend of $4.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.6%. Farmland Partners pays out 70.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Crown Castle pays out 215.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Valuation & Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Farmland Partners	$51.47 million	8.11	$31.55 million	$0.51	18.77
Crown Castle	$4.16 billion	7.97	$444.00 million	$1.97	38.58

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

58.0% of Farmland Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.8% of Crown Castle shares are owned by institutional investors. 7.9% of Farmland Partners shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Crown Castle shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Farmland Partners and Crown Castle, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Farmland Partners	0	4	0	0	2.00
Crown Castle	0	12	7	2	2.52

Crown Castle has a consensus target price of $95.13, indicating a potential upside of 25.16%. Given Crown Castle’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Crown Castle is more favorable than Farmland Partners.

Profitability

This table compares Farmland Partners and Crown Castle’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Farmland Partners	49.85%	5.54%	3.58%
Crown Castle	20.71%	-51.60%	3.70%

Volatility and Risk

Farmland Partners has a beta of 0.67, meaning that its share price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Crown Castle has a beta of 0.95, meaning that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Crown Castle beats Farmland Partners on 12 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 Crown Castle

Crown Castle owns, operates and leases more than 40,000 cell towers and approximately 90,000 route miles of fiber supporting small cells and fiber solutions across every major U.S. market. This nationwide portfolio of communications infrastructure connects cities and communities to essential data, technology and wireless service – bringing information, ideas and innovations to the people and businesses that need them.