Reviewing Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) & Sotherly Hotels (NASDAQ:SOHO)

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) and Sotherly Hotels (NASDAQ:SOHO) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability and risk.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

99.7% of Digital Realty Trust shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 27.5% of Sotherly Hotels shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Digital Realty Trust shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 15.9% of Sotherly Hotels shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Digital Realty Trust and Sotherly Hotels’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Digital Realty Trust	8.04%	2.24%	1.00%
Sotherly Hotels	0.92%	3.48%	0.41%

Volatility & Risk

Digital Realty Trust has a beta of 0.63, indicating that its stock price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sotherly Hotels has a beta of 1.53, indicating that its stock price is 53% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Digital Realty Trust and Sotherly Hotels, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Digital Realty Trust	1	6	14	2	2.74
Sotherly Hotels	0	1	0	0	2.00

Digital Realty Trust presently has a consensus target price of $179.70, indicating a potential upside of 8.16%. Sotherly Hotels has a consensus target price of $1.50, indicating a potential upside of 78.00%. Given Sotherly Hotels’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Sotherly Hotels is more favorable than Digital Realty Trust.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Digital Realty Trust and Sotherly Hotels”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Digital Realty Trust	$5.48 billion	10.06	$948.84 million	$1.19	139.61
Sotherly Hotels	$173.84 million	0.10	$3.94 million	($0.33)	-2.55

Digital Realty Trust has higher revenue and earnings than Sotherly Hotels. Sotherly Hotels is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Digital Realty Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Digital Realty Trust beats Sotherly Hotels on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Digital Realty Trust

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. operates as a real estate investment trust, which engages in the provision of data center, colocation and interconnection solutions. It serves the following industries: artificial intelligence (AI), networks, cloud, digital media, mobile, financial services, healthcare, and gaming. The company was founded on March 9, 2004, and is headquartered in Dallas, TX.

About Sotherly Hotels

Sotherly Hotels Inc. is a self-managed and self-administered lodging REIT focused on the acquisition, renovation, upbranding and repositioning of upscale to upper-upscale full-service hotels in the Southern United States. Sotherly may also opportunistically acquire hotels throughout the United States. Currently, the Company's portfolio consists of investments in ten hotel properties, comprising 2,786 rooms, as well as interests in two condominium hotels and their associated rental programs. The Company owns hotels that operate under the Hilton Worldwide and Hyatt Hotels Corporation brands, as well as independent hotels. Sotherly Hotels Inc. was organized in 2004 and is headquartered in Williamsburg, Virginia.