Financial Survey: Gaming and Leisure Properties (GLPI) & The Competition

Gaming and Leisure Properties (NASDAQ:GLPI) is one of 35 publicly-traded companies in the “Specialized REITs” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare Gaming and Leisure Properties to similar businesses based on the strength of its earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and risk.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

91.1% of Gaming and Leisure Properties shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.0% of shares of all “Specialized REITs” companies are held by institutional investors. 4.1% of Gaming and Leisure Properties shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.5% of shares of all “Specialized REITs” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Gaming and Leisure Properties and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Gaming and Leisure Properties	0	7	9	0	2.56
Gaming and Leisure Properties Competitors	519	2788	3668	191	2.49

Gaming and Leisure Properties presently has a consensus target price of $47.36, indicating a potential upside of 20.07%. As a group, “Specialized REITs” companies have a potential upside of 12.60%. Given Gaming and Leisure Properties’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Gaming and Leisure Properties is more favorable than its peers.

Dividends

Gaming and Leisure Properties pays an annual dividend of $3.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.3%. Gaming and Leisure Properties pays out 100.3% 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, “Specialized REITs” companies pay a dividend yield of 3.3% and pay out 119.8% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Gaming and Leisure Properties has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Gaming and Leisure Properties is clearly a better dividend stock than its peers, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Gaming and Leisure Properties and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Gaming and Leisure Properties	55.71%	18.16%	6.87%
Gaming and Leisure Properties Competitors	-5.31%	-3.47%	1.99%

Volatility and Risk

Gaming and Leisure Properties has a beta of 0.64, meaning that its share price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Gaming and Leisure Properties’ peers have a beta of 0.92, meaning that their average share price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Gaming and Leisure Properties and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Gaming and Leisure Properties	$1.59 billion	$825.11 million	12.06
Gaming and Leisure Properties Competitors	$2.58 billion	$596.00 million	31.88

Gaming and Leisure Properties’ peers have higher revenue, but lower earnings than Gaming and Leisure Properties. Gaming and Leisure Properties 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.

Summary

Gaming and Leisure Properties beats its peers on 10 of the 15 factors compared.

About Gaming and Leisure Properties

Gaming & Leisure Properties, Inc. engages in the provision of acquiring, financing, and owning real estate property to be leased to gaming operators in triple-net lease arrangements. The company was founded on February 13, 2013 and is headquartered in Wyomissing, PA.