Creative Media & Community Trust Co. (NASDAQ:CMCT) vs. Elme Communities (NYSE:ELME) Head to Head Survey

Elme Communities (NYSE:ELME) and Creative Media & Community Trust Co. (NASDAQ:CMCT) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Elme Communities and Creative Media & Community Trust Co., as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Elme Communities	0	4	0	0	2.00
Creative Media & Community Trust Co.	0	1	0	0	2.00

Elme Communities currently has a consensus target price of $17.00, indicating a potential upside of 17.40%. Creative Media & Community Trust Co. has a consensus target price of $40.00, indicating a potential upside of 4,108.31%. Given Creative Media & Community Trust Co.’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Creative Media & Community Trust Co. is more favorable than Elme Communities.

Dividends

Elme Communities pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.0%. Creative Media & Community Trust Co. pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 168.3%. Elme Communities pays out -480.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Creative Media & Community Trust Co. pays out -5.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Elme Communities and Creative Media & Community Trust Co.”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Elme Communities	$239.52 million	5.32	-$52.98 million	($0.15)	-96.53
Creative Media & Community Trust Co.	$126.52 million	0.07	-$48.49 million	($28.77)	-0.03

Creative Media & Community Trust Co. has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Elme Communities. Elme Communities is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Creative Media & Community Trust Co., indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

Elme Communities has a beta of 0.9, indicating that its share price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Creative Media & Community Trust Co. has a beta of 0.46, indicating that its share price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Elme Communities and Creative Media & Community Trust Co.’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Elme Communities	-5.51%	-1.17%	-0.70%
Creative Media & Community Trust Co.	-18.42%	N/A	-2.64%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

87.9% of Elme Communities shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 28.3% of Creative Media & Community Trust Co. shares are held by institutional investors. 1.2% of Elme Communities shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 45.7% of Creative Media & Community Trust Co. shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Elme Communities beats Creative Media & Community Trust Co. on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Elme Communities

Elme Communities is committed to elevating what home can be for middle-income renters by providing a higher level of quality, service, and experience. The Company is a multifamily real estate investment trust that owns and operates approximately 9,400 apartment homes in the Washington, DC metro and the Atlanta metro regions, and owns approximately 300,000 square feet of commercial space. Focused on providing quality, affordable homes to a deep, solid, and underserved base of mid-market demand, Elme Communities is building long-term value for shareholders.

About Creative Media & Community Trust Co.

Creative Media & Community Trust Corporation (the Company), is a Maryland corporation and real estate investment trust (REIT). The Company primarily acquires, develops, owns and operates both premier multifamily properties situated in vibrant communities throughout the United States and Class A and creative office real assets in markets with similar business and employment characteristics to its multifamily investments. The Company also owns one hotel in northern California and a lending platform that originates loans under the Small Business Administration (SBA) 7(a) loan program. The Company seeks to apply the expertise of CIM Group Management, LLC and its affiliates (collectively, CIM Group) to the acquisition, development and operation of premier multifamily properties and creative office assets that cater to rapidly growing industries such as technology, media and entertainment in vibrant and emerging communities throughout the United States.