Head-To-Head Review: Easterly Government Properties (NYSE:DEA) versus Piedmont Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM)

Easterly Government Properties (NYSE:DEA) and Piedmont Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) are both small-cap real estate companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, earnings, valuation and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Easterly Government Properties and Piedmont Realty Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Easterly Government Properties	1	4	2	0	2.14
Piedmont Realty Trust	1	1	1	0	2.00

Easterly Government Properties currently has a consensus price target of $24.49, suggesting a potential downside of 0.31%. Piedmont Realty Trust has a consensus price target of $10.50, suggesting a potential upside of 8.47%. Given Piedmont Realty Trust’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Piedmont Realty Trust is more favorable than Easterly Government Properties.

Profitability

This table compares Easterly Government Properties and Piedmont Realty Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Easterly Government Properties	2.86%	0.75%	0.30%
Piedmont Realty Trust	-14.18%	-5.39%	-2.00%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

86.5% of Easterly Government Properties shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.5% of Piedmont Realty Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 6.5% of Easterly Government Properties shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of Piedmont Realty Trust shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Easterly Government Properties has a beta of 0.96, indicating that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Piedmont Realty Trust has a beta of 1.35, indicating that its stock price is 35% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Easterly Government Properties and Piedmont Realty Trust”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Easterly Government Properties	$357.15 million	3.26	$13.00 million	$0.21	117.00
Piedmont Realty Trust	$564.99 million	2.14	-$83.62 million	($0.65)	-14.89

Easterly Government Properties has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Piedmont Realty Trust. Piedmont Realty Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Easterly Government Properties, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Easterly Government Properties beats Piedmont Realty Trust on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Easterly Government Properties

Easterly Government Properties, Inc. (NYSE: DEA) is based in Washington, D.C., and focuses primarily on the acquisition, development and management of Class A commercial properties that are leased to the U.S. Government. Easterly’s experienced management team brings specialized insight into the strategy and needs of mission-critical U.S. Government agencies for properties leased to such agencies either directly or through the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA).

About Piedmont Realty Trust

Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (also referred to herein as "Piedmont" or the "Company") (NYSE: PDM) is an owner, manager, developer, redeveloper and operator of high-quality, Class A office properties located primarily in major U.S. Sunbelt markets. The Company is a fully-integrated, self-managed real estate investment trust ("REIT") with local management offices in each of its markets and is investment-grade rated by Standard & Poor's and Moody's. The Company was designated an Energy Star Partner of the Year for 2021, 2022 and 2023, and it was the only office REIT headquartered in the Southeast to receive those designations. Approximately 85% of the Company's square footage is Energy Star certified and nearly 70% is LEED certified. Piedmont is headquartered in Atlanta, GA.