Analyzing National Health Investors (NHI) and Its Peers

National Health Investors (NYSE:NHI) is one of 40 publicly-traded companies in the “Healthcare REITs” industry, but how does it compare to its peers? We will compare National Health Investors to similar businesses based on the strength of its valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, risk and institutional ownership.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares National Health Investors and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
National Health Investors	$375.63 million	$142.18 million	20.68
National Health Investors Competitors	$1.28 billion	$1.61 million	49.85

National Health Investors’ peers have higher revenue, but lower earnings than National Health Investors. National Health Investors is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

62.5% of National Health Investors shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 62.8% of shares of all “Healthcare REITs” companies are held by institutional investors. 2.7% of National Health Investors shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.1% of shares of all “Healthcare REITs” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

National Health Investors pays an annual dividend of $3.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.3%. National Health Investors pays out 108.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. As a group, “Healthcare REITs” companies pay a dividend yield of 4.1% and pay out 214.2% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. National Health Investors is clearly a better dividend stock than its peers, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Risk & Volatility

National Health Investors has a beta of 0.51, suggesting that its share price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, National Health Investors’ peers have a beta of 0.85, suggesting that their average share price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for National Health Investors and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
National Health Investors	0	4	5	0	2.56
National Health Investors Competitors	419	1999	1983	81	2.39

National Health Investors presently has a consensus price target of $81.00, suggesting a potential upside of 13.22%. As a group, “Healthcare REITs” companies have a potential upside of 8.68%. Given National Health Investors’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe National Health Investors is more favorable than its peers.

Profitability

This table compares National Health Investors and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
National Health Investors	38.56%	10.89%	5.88%
National Health Investors Competitors	19.33%	4.54%	2.32%

Summary

National Health Investors beats its peers on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

National Health Investors Company Profile

Incorporated in 1991, National Health Investors, Inc. (NYSE:NHI) is a real estate investment trust specializing in sale, leasebacks, joint-ventures, senior housing operating partnerships, and mortgage and mezzanine financing of need-driven and discretionary senior housing and medical investments. NHI's portfolio consists of independent living, assisted living and memory care communities, entrance-fee retirement communities, skilled nursing facilities, and specialty hospitals.