Head to Head Comparison: American Assets Trust (NYSE:AAT) & Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital (NYSE:HASI)

Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital (NYSE:HASI) and American Assets Trust (NYSE:AAT) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, valuation, risk and institutional ownership.

Volatility & Risk

Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital has a beta of 1.94, indicating that its share price is 94% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Assets Trust has a beta of 1.31, indicating that its share price is 31% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital and American Assets Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital	59.56%	11.53%	3.93%
American Assets Trust	12.76%	5.08%	1.89%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

96.1% of Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.4% of American Assets Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.0% of Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 37.3% of American Assets Trust shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital pays an annual dividend of $1.66 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.0%. American Assets Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.34 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.4%. 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. American Assets Trust pays out 147.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital and American Assets Trust”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital	$413.05 million	7.92	$148.84 million	$1.78	15.51
American Assets Trust	$456.89 million	3.33	$64.69 million	$0.91	27.42

Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital has higher earnings, but lower revenue than American Assets Trust. Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than American Assets Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital and American Assets Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital	0	2	9	2	3.00
American Assets Trust	0	2	0	0	2.00

Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital presently has a consensus price target of $40.50, suggesting a potential upside of 46.69%. American Assets Trust has a consensus price target of $26.00, suggesting a potential upside of 4.21%. Given Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital is more favorable than American Assets Trust.

Summary

Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital beats American Assets Trust on 14 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About American Assets Trust

American Assets Trust, Inc. is a full service, vertically integrated and self-administered real estate investment trust ("REIT"), headquartered in San Diego, California. The company has over 55 years of experience in acquiring, improving, developing and managing premier office, retail, and residential properties throughout the United States in some of the nation's most dynamic, high-barrier-to-entry markets primarily in Southern California, Northern California, Washington, Oregon, Texas and Hawaii. The company's office portfolio comprises approximately 4.1 million rentable square feet, and its retail portfolio comprises approximately 3.1 million rentable square feet. In addition, the company owns one mixed-use property (including approximately 94,000 rentable square feet of retail space and a 369-room all-suite hotel) and 2,110 multifamily units. In 2011, the company was formed to succeed to the real estate business of American Assets, Inc., a privately held corporation founded in 1967 and, as such, has significant experience, long-standing relationships and extensive knowledge of its core markets, submarkets and asset classes.