Analyzing Piedmont Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) and Office Properties Income Trust (NASDAQ:OPI)

Office Properties Income Trust (NASDAQ:OPI) and Piedmont Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) are both small-cap real estate companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Office Properties Income Trust and Piedmont Realty Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Office Properties Income Trust	1	0	0	1	2.50
Piedmont Realty Trust	1	1	1	0	2.00

Office Properties Income Trust presently has a consensus price target of $27.00, suggesting a potential upside of 48.60%. Piedmont Realty Trust has a consensus price target of $10.50, suggesting a potential upside of 8.47%. Given Office Properties Income Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Office Properties Income Trust is more favorable than Piedmont Realty Trust.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

64.4% of Office Properties Income Trust shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.5% of Piedmont Realty Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 1.8% of Office Properties Income Trust shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of Piedmont Realty Trust shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Office Properties Income Trust and Piedmont Realty Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Office Properties Income Trust	N/A	N/A	N/A
Piedmont Realty Trust	-14.18%	-5.39%	-2.00%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Office Properties Income Trust and Piedmont Realty Trust”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Office Properties Income Trust	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Piedmont Realty Trust	$569.43 million	2.13	-$83.62 million	($0.65)	-14.89

Office Properties Income Trust has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Piedmont Realty Trust.

Summary

Office Properties Income Trust beats Piedmont Realty Trust on 7 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Office Properties Income Trust

Office Properties Income Trust is a real estate investment trust. It owns, operates, and leases office buildings to single tenants and multi-tenant buildings. The company was founded on February 17, 2009 and is headquartered in Newton, MA.

About Piedmont Realty Trust

Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (also referred to herein as "Piedmont" or the "Company") (NYSE: PDM) is an owner, manager, developer, redeveloper and operator of high-quality, Class A office properties located primarily in major U.S. Sunbelt markets. The Company is a fully-integrated, self-managed real estate investment trust ("REIT") with local management offices in each of its markets and is investment-grade rated by Standard & Poor's and Moody's. The Company was designated an Energy Star Partner of the Year for 2021, 2022 and 2023, and it was the only office REIT headquartered in the Southeast to receive those designations. Approximately 85% of the Company's square footage is Energy Star certified and nearly 70% is LEED certified. Piedmont is headquartered in Atlanta, GA.