Contrasting American Assets Trust (NYSE:AAT) & Generation Income Properties (NASDAQ:GIPR)

Generation Income Properties (NASDAQ:GIPR) and American Assets Trust (NYSE:AAT) are both small-cap real estate companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk and institutional ownership.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

20.7% of Generation Income Properties shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.4% of American Assets Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 6.2% of Generation Income Properties shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 37.9% of American Assets Trust shares are held 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Generation Income Properties and American Assets Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Generation Income Properties	1	0	0	0	1.00
American Assets Trust	1	2	0	0	1.67

American Assets Trust has a consensus price target of $21.50, indicating a potential downside of 4.53%. Given American Assets Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe American Assets Trust is more favorable than Generation Income Properties.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Generation Income Properties and American Assets Trust”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Generation Income Properties	$9.74 million	0.05	-$10.34 million	($18.10)	-0.04
American Assets Trust	$436.20 million	3.17	$71.37 million	$0.29	77.66

American Assets Trust has higher revenue and earnings than Generation Income Properties. Generation Income Properties is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than American Assets Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Generation Income Properties and American Assets Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Generation Income Properties	-102.07%	N/A	-8.90%
American Assets Trust	4.09%	1.66%	0.62%

Volatility and Risk

Generation Income Properties has a beta of 0.3, suggesting that its stock price is 70% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Assets Trust has a beta of 0.96, suggesting that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

American Assets Trust beats Generation Income Properties on 13 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Generation Income Properties

Generation Income Properties, Inc., located in Tampa, Florida, is an internally managed real estate investment trust formed to acquire and own, directly and jointly, real estate investments focused on retail, office, and industrial net lease properties in densely populated submarkets.

About American Assets Trust

American Assets Trust, Inc. is a full service, vertically integrated and self-administered real estate investment trust ("REIT"), headquartered in San Diego, California. The company has over 55 years of experience in acquiring, improving, developing and managing premier office, retail, and residential properties throughout the United States in some of the nation's most dynamic, high-barrier-to-entry markets primarily in Southern California, Northern California, Washington, Oregon, Texas and Hawaii. The company's office portfolio comprises approximately 4.1 million rentable square feet, and its retail portfolio comprises approximately 3.1 million rentable square feet. In addition, the company owns one mixed-use property (including approximately 94,000 rentable square feet of retail space and a 369-room all-suite hotel) and 2,110 multifamily units. In 2011, the company was formed to succeed to the real estate business of American Assets, Inc., a privately held corporation founded in 1967 and, as such, has significant experience, long-standing relationships and extensive knowledge of its core markets, submarkets and asset classes.