Acadia Realty Trust (NYSE:AKR) vs. SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC) Critical Survey

SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC) and Acadia Realty Trust (NYSE:AKR) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, dividends and earnings.

Dividends

SBA Communications pays an annual dividend of $4.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Acadia Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. SBA Communications pays out 60.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Acadia Realty Trust pays out 500.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. SBA Communications has raised its dividend for 6 consecutive years and Acadia Realty Trust has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Risk & Volatility

SBA Communications has a beta of 0.83, indicating that its stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Acadia Realty Trust has a beta of 1.39, indicating that its stock price is 39% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for SBA Communications and Acadia Realty Trust, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SBA Communications	0	5	8	2	2.80
Acadia Realty Trust	0	1	2	0	2.67

SBA Communications presently has a consensus price target of $252.93, indicating a potential upside of 7.40%. Acadia Realty Trust has a consensus price target of $22.67, indicating a potential upside of 12.60%. Given Acadia Realty Trust’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Acadia Realty Trust is more favorable than SBA Communications.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares SBA Communications and Acadia Realty Trust”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
SBA Communications	$2.69 billion	9.44	$501.81 million	$7.29	32.31
Acadia Realty Trust	$372.73 million	7.07	$21.65 million	$0.16	125.81

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

Profitability

This table compares SBA Communications and Acadia Realty Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SBA Communications	25.76%	-13.13%	6.83%
Acadia Realty Trust	5.74%	0.88%	0.48%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

97.3% of SBA Communications shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.7% of Acadia Realty Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of SBA Communications shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.8% of Acadia Realty Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

SBA Communications beats Acadia Realty Trust on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About SBA Communications

SBA Communications Corporation is a leading independent owner and operator of wireless communications infrastructure including towers, buildings, rooftops, distributed antenna systems (DAS) and small cells. With a portfolio of more than 39,000 communications sites throughout the Americas, Africa and in Asia, SBA is listed on NASDAQ under the symbol SBAC. Our organization is part of the S&P 500 and is one of the top Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) by market capitalization.

About Acadia Realty Trust

Acadia Realty Trust is an equity real estate investment trust focused on delivering long-term, profitable growth via its dual Core Portfolio and Fund operating platforms and its disciplined, location-driven investment strategy. Acadia Realty Trust is accomplishing this goal by building a best-in-class core real estate portfolio with meaningful concentrations of assets in the nation's most dynamic corridors; making profitable opportunistic and value-add investments through its series of discretionary, institutional funds; and maintaining a strong balance sheet.