Granite Point Mortgage Trust (NYSE:GPMT) and American Tower (NYSE:AMT) Head-To-Head Contrast

Granite Point Mortgage Trust (NYSE:GPMT) and American Tower (NYSE:AMT) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk and earnings.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Granite Point Mortgage Trust and American Tower”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Granite Point Mortgage Trust	$39.86 million	3.72	-$207.05 million	($4.39)	-0.68
American Tower	$11.17 billion	8.60	$1.48 billion	$2.37	86.76

American Tower has higher revenue and earnings than Granite Point Mortgage Trust. Granite Point Mortgage Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than American Tower, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Granite Point Mortgage Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.7%. American Tower pays an annual dividend of $6.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Granite Point Mortgage Trust pays out -4.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. American Tower pays out 273.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Granite Point Mortgage Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Granite Point Mortgage Trust and American Tower, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Granite Point Mortgage Trust	0	2	1	0	2.33
American Tower	0	3	10	2	2.93

Granite Point Mortgage Trust presently has a consensus target price of $3.38, suggesting a potential upside of 13.83%. American Tower has a consensus target price of $225.21, suggesting a potential upside of 9.53%. Given Granite Point Mortgage Trust’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Granite Point Mortgage Trust is more favorable than American Tower.

Risk & Volatility

Granite Point Mortgage Trust has a beta of 1.86, suggesting that its stock price is 86% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Tower has a beta of 0.84, suggesting that its stock price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

51.6% of Granite Point Mortgage Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.7% of American Tower shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.3% of Granite Point Mortgage Trust shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of American Tower shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Granite Point Mortgage Trust and American Tower’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Granite Point Mortgage Trust	-111.59%	-14.08%	-4.02%
American Tower	10.05%	22.01%	3.55%

Summary

American Tower beats Granite Point Mortgage Trust on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Granite Point Mortgage Trust

Granite Point Mortgage Trust Inc., a real estate investment trust, originates, invests in, and manages senior floating-rate commercial mortgage loans, and other debt and debt-like commercial real estate investments in the United States. The company provides intermediate-term bridge or transitional financing for various purposes, including acquisitions, recapitalizations, and refinancing, as well as a range of business plans, including lease-up, renovation, repositioning, and repurposing of the commercial property. The company qualifies as a real estate investment trust for federal income tax purposes. It generally would not be subject to federal corporate income taxes if it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to its stockholders. The company was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About American Tower

American Tower, one of the largest global REITs, is a leading independent owner, operator and developer of multitenant communications real estate with a portfolio of over 224,000 communications sites and a highly interconnected footprint of U.S. data center facilities.