Sunrise Realty Trust (NASDAQ:SUNS) versus Claros Mortgage Trust (NYSE:CMTG) Financial Analysis

Claros Mortgage Trust (NYSE:CMTG) and Sunrise Realty Trust (NASDAQ:SUNS) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, earnings and dividends.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Claros Mortgage Trust and Sunrise Realty Trust”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Claros Mortgage Trust	$69.81 million	3.34	-$489.07 million	($3.83)	-0.43
Sunrise Realty Trust	$33.50 million	3.05	$12.14 million	$0.97	7.79

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

Profitability

This table compares Claros Mortgage Trust and Sunrise Realty Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Claros Mortgage Trust	-354.13%	-19.70%	-6.52%
Sunrise Realty Trust	53.33%	8.25%	4.90%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Claros Mortgage Trust and Sunrise Realty Trust, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Claros Mortgage Trust	3	1	0	0	1.25
Sunrise Realty Trust	1	2	0	0	1.67

Claros Mortgage Trust currently has a consensus price target of $2.22, indicating a potential upside of 33.94%. Sunrise Realty Trust has a consensus price target of $8.00, indicating a potential upside of 5.90%. Given Claros Mortgage Trust’s higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Claros Mortgage Trust is more favorable than Sunrise Realty Trust.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

89.5% of Claros Mortgage Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 2.6% of Claros Mortgage Trust shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 28.5% of Sunrise Realty Trust shares 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

Claros Mortgage Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 24.2%. Sunrise Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 15.9%. Claros Mortgage Trust pays out -10.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Sunrise Realty Trust pays out 123.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Claros Mortgage Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Risk & Volatility

Claros Mortgage Trust has a beta of 1.16, suggesting that its share price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sunrise Realty Trust has a beta of 1.02, suggesting that its share price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Sunrise Realty Trust beats Claros Mortgage Trust on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Claros Mortgage Trust

Claros Mortgage Trust, Inc. operates as a real estate investment trust. It focuses on originating senior and subordinate loans on transitional commercial real estate assets in the United States. The company has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust. As a result, it would not be subject to corporate income tax on that portion of its net income that is distributed to shareholders. The company was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Sunrise Realty Trust

Sunrise Realty Trust, Inc. engages in commercial real estate (CRE) lending business. It focuses on originating CRE debt investments and providing capital to borrowers and sponsors with transitional business plans collateralized by CRE assets. The company intends to create a diversified investment portfolio, targeting investments in senior mortgage loans, mezzanine loans, whole loans, B-notes, CMBS, and debt-like preferred equity securities across CRE asset classes. Sunrise Realty Trust, Inc. was incorporated in 2023 and is based in West Palm Beach, Florida.