Critical Contrast: Stag Industrial (NYSE:STAG) and Mapletree Logistics Trust (OTCMKTS:MAPGF)

Mapletree Logistics Trust (OTCMKTS:MAPGF) and Stag Industrial (NYSE:STAG) are both real estate companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, profitability, valuation and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Mapletree Logistics Trust and Stag Industrial, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mapletree Logistics Trust	0	0	1	0	3.00
Stag Industrial	1	6	3	0	2.20

Stag Industrial has a consensus target price of $50.50, indicating a potential upside of 37.68%. Given Stag Industrial’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Stag Industrial is more favorable than Mapletree Logistics Trust.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Mapletree Logistics Trust and Stag Industrial”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mapletree Logistics Trust	N/A	N/A	N/A	$0.12	8.11
Stag Industrial	$845.18 million	8.37	$273.52 million	$1.30	28.22

Stag Industrial has higher revenue and earnings than Mapletree Logistics Trust. Mapletree Logistics Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Stag Industrial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Mapletree Logistics Trust and Stag Industrial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mapletree Logistics Trust	N/A	N/A	N/A
Stag Industrial	28.04%	6.79%	3.43%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

16.9% of Mapletree Logistics Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 88.7% of Stag Industrial shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of Stag Industrial shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Mapletree Logistics Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.05 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.8%. Stag Industrial pays an annual dividend of $1.55 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. Mapletree Logistics Trust pays out 39.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Stag Industrial pays out 119.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Stag Industrial has raised its dividend for 7 consecutive years. Mapletree Logistics Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Stag Industrial beats Mapletree Logistics Trust on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Mapletree Logistics Trust

MLT, the first Asia-focused logistics REIT in Singapore, was listed on the SGX-ST Main Board on 28 July 2005. MLT's principal strategy is to invest in a diversified portfolio of income-producing logistics real estate and real estate-related assets. As at 31 December 2023, it has a portfolio of 187 properties in Singapore, Australia, China, Hong Kong SAR, India, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and Vietnam with assets under management of S$13.3 billion. MLT is managed by Mapletree Logistics Trust Management Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mapletree Investments Pte Ltd.

About Stag Industrial

STAG Industrial, Inc. is a real estate investment company, which engages in acquiring, owning, and managing single-tenant, industrial real estate assets. It offers industrial real estate operating platform to real estate ownership. The company was founded by Benjamin S. Butcher on July 21, 2010 and is headquartered in Boston, MA.