Healthcare Realty Trust (NYSE:HR – Get Free Report) and Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR – Get Free Report) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, risk and earnings.
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Healthcare Realty Trust and Lamar Advertising, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Healthcare Realty Trust | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 |
| Lamar Advertising | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2.20 |
Healthcare Realty Trust presently has a consensus target price of $17.17, suggesting a potential downside of 2.52%. Lamar Advertising has a consensus target price of $132.40, suggesting a potential upside of 2.30%. Given Lamar Advertising’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Lamar Advertising is more favorable than Healthcare Realty Trust.
Earnings and Valuation
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Healthcare Realty Trust | $1.34 billion | 4.64 | -$278.26 million | ($1.58) | -11.15 |
| Lamar Advertising | $2.11 billion | 6.28 | $495.76 million | $5.00 | 25.88 |
Lamar Advertising has higher revenue and earnings than Healthcare Realty Trust. Healthcare Realty Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Lamar Advertising, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Dividends
Healthcare Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.0%. Lamar Advertising pays an annual dividend of $5.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. Healthcare Realty Trust pays out -78.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Lamar Advertising pays out 112.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Healthcare Realty Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Volatility & Risk
Healthcare Realty Trust has a beta of 0.93, suggesting that its share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lamar Advertising has a beta of 1.5, suggesting that its share price is 50% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares Healthcare Realty Trust and Lamar Advertising’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Healthcare Realty Trust | -45.63% | -9.42% | -4.90% |
| Lamar Advertising | 23.46% | 42.58% | 7.82% |
Institutional and Insider Ownership
93.8% of Lamar Advertising shares are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of Healthcare Realty Trust shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 15.0% of Lamar Advertising shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Summary
Lamar Advertising beats Healthcare Realty Trust on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Healthcare Realty Trust
Healthcare Realty (NYSE: HR) is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns and operates medical outpatient buildings primarily located around market-leading hospital campuses. The Company selectively grows its portfolio through property acquisition and development. As the first and largest REIT to specialize in medical outpatient buildings, Healthcare Realty's portfolio includes more than 700 properties totaling over 40 million square feet concentrated in 15 growth markets.
About Lamar Advertising
Lamar Advertising Company operates as an outdoor advertising company in the United States and Canada. The company owns and operates billboards, logo signs, and transit advertising displays, as well as rents space for advertising on billboards, buses, shelters, benches, logo plates, and in airport terminals. Lamar Advertising Company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
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