Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance (NASDAQ:REFI) versus Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital (NYSE:HASI) Head to Head Survey

Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance (NASDAQ:REFI) and Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital (NYSE:HASI) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance and Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance	0	0	2	1	3.33
Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital	0	1	10	2	3.08

Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance currently has a consensus price target of $20.00, suggesting a potential upside of 29.87%. Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital has a consensus price target of $40.50, suggesting a potential upside of 46.85%. Given Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital is more favorable than Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance and Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance	$55.79 million	5.42	$38.71 million	$2.00	7.70
Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital	$413.05 million	7.91	$148.84 million	$1.78	15.49

Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital has higher revenue and earnings than Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance. Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

25.5% of Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.1% of Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital shares are owned by institutional investors. 12.3% of Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.0% of Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance pays an annual dividend of $1.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 12.2%. Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital pays an annual dividend of $1.66 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.0%. Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance pays out 94.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital pays out 93.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Volatility & Risk

Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance has a beta of 0.23, indicating that its stock price is 77% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital has a beta of 1.94, indicating that its stock price is 94% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance and Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance	64.57%	13.17%	10.10%
Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital	59.56%	11.53%	3.93%

Summary

Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital beats Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance

Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance, Inc. operates as a commercial real estate finance company in the United States. The company engages in originating, structuring, and investing in first mortgage loans and alternative structured financings secured by commercial real estate properties. Its portfolio primarily includes offers senior loans to state-licensed operators in the cannabis industry. The company has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust (REIT) and would not be subject to federal corporate income taxes if it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to its stockholders. Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance, Inc. was incorporated in 2021 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

About Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital

Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the investment in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and sustainable infrastructure markets in the United States. The company's portfolio includes equity investments, commercial and government receivables, real estate, and debt securities. It invests in climate solution, including Behind-the-Meter that distributes energy projects which reduce energy usage or cost through heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, as well as lighting, energy controls, roofs, windows, building shells, and/or combined heat and power systems; Grid-Connected, a renewable energy projects that deploy cleaner energy sources, such as solar, solar-plus-storage, and wind to generate power production; and Fuels, Transport, and Nature, a range of real assets spanning high-emitting economic sectors other than the power grid such as transportation and fuels comprising renewable natural gas plants, transportation fleet enhancements, ecological restoration, and other projects. Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital, Inc. was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Annapolis, Maryland.