Reviewing Four Corners Property Trust (NYSE:FCPT) & Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR)

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) and Four Corners Property Trust (NYSE:FCPT) are both real estate companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability, risk and valuation.

Risk and Volatility

Digital Realty Trust has a beta of 1.03, indicating that its share price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Four Corners Property Trust has a beta of 0.79, indicating that its share price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Digital Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $4.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Four Corners Property Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.47 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.8%. Digital Realty Trust pays out 236.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Four Corners Property Trust pays out 132.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Four Corners Property Trust has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years. Four Corners Property Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

99.7% of Digital Realty Trust shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.7% of Four Corners Property Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Digital Realty Trust shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of Four Corners Property Trust shares are held 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 summary of recent recommendations for Digital Realty Trust and Four Corners Property Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Digital Realty Trust	0	6	25	1	2.84
Four Corners Property Trust	0	5	5	0	2.50

Digital Realty Trust currently has a consensus price target of $219.45, indicating a potential upside of 15.01%. Four Corners Property Trust has a consensus price target of $27.78, indicating a potential upside of 9.97%. Given Digital Realty Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Digital Realty Trust is more favorable than Four Corners Property Trust.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Digital Realty Trust and Four Corners Property Trust”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Digital Realty Trust	$6.11 billion	11.58	$1.31 billion	$2.06	92.63
Four Corners Property Trust	$294.13 million	9.43	$112.36 million	$1.11	22.76

Digital Realty Trust has higher revenue and earnings than Four Corners Property Trust. Four Corners Property Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Digital Realty Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Digital Realty Trust and Four Corners Property Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Digital Realty Trust	11.80%	3.34%	1.59%
Four Corners Property Trust	38.70%	7.35%	4.05%

Summary

Digital Realty Trust beats Four Corners Property Trust on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Digital Realty Trust

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. operates as a real estate investment trust, which engages in the provision of data center, colocation and interconnection solutions. It serves the following industries: artificial intelligence (AI), networks, cloud, digital media, mobile, financial services, healthcare, and gaming. The company was founded on March 9, 2004, and is headquartered in Dallas, TX.

About Four Corners Property Trust

Four Corners Property Trust, Inc. engages in the owning, acquisition, and leasing of properties for use in the restaurant and food-service related industries. It operates through the Real Estate Operations and Restaurant Operations segments. The Real Estate Operations segment consists of rental revenues generated by leasing restaurant properties. The Restaurant Operations segment includes the Kerrow Restaurant operating business. The company was founded on July 2, 2015 and is headquartered in Mill Valley, CA.