Critical Comparison: Highlands REIT (OTCMKTS:HHDS) & Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE:VNO)

Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE:VNO) and Highlands REIT (OTCMKTS:HHDS) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares Vornado Realty Trust and Highlands REIT’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vornado Realty Trust	0.46%	1.72%	0.48%
Highlands REIT	-11.68%	-1.98%	-1.19%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

90.0% of Vornado Realty Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of Highlands REIT shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.1% of Vornado Realty Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.7% of Highlands REIT shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Vornado Realty Trust has a beta of 1.63, indicating that its share price is 63% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Highlands REIT has a beta of 15.97, indicating that its share price is 1,497% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Vornado Realty Trust and Highlands REIT”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vornado Realty Trust	$1.77 billion	4.31	$105.49 million	($0.29)	-138.03
Highlands REIT	$30.98 million	0.84	-$10.30 million	N/A	N/A

Vornado Realty Trust has higher revenue and earnings than Highlands REIT.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Vornado Realty Trust and Highlands REIT, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vornado Realty Trust	2	6	2	0	2.00
Highlands REIT	0	0	0	0	0.00

Vornado Realty Trust presently has a consensus target price of $36.58, suggesting a potential downside of 8.63%. Given Vornado Realty Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Vornado Realty Trust is more favorable than Highlands REIT.

Summary

Vornado Realty Trust beats Highlands REIT on 11 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Vornado Realty Trust

Vornado Realty Trust is a fully – integrated equity real estate investment trust.

About Highlands REIT

We are a self-advised and self-administered real estate investment trust (REIT) created to own and manage substantially all of the non-core investment properties previously owned and managed by our former parent, InvenTrust Properties Corp., a Maryland corporation (InvenTrust). On April 28, 2016, we were spun-off from InvenTrust through a pro rata distribution (the Distribution) by InvenTrust of 100% of the outstanding shares of our common stock to holders of InvenTrust's common stock. Prior to or concurrent with the separation, we and InvenTrust engaged in certain reorganization transactions that were designed to consolidate substantially all of InvenTrust's remaining non-core investment properties in Highlands.