Contrasting CareTrust REIT (NASDAQ:CTRE) and AG Mortgage Investment Trust (NYSE:MITT)

AG Mortgage Investment Trust (NYSE:MITT) and CareTrust REIT (NASDAQ:CTRE) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, risk, dividends, earnings, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Risk and Volatility

AG Mortgage Investment Trust has a beta of 2, indicating that its share price is 100% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CareTrust REIT has a beta of 1.09, indicating that its share price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares AG Mortgage Investment Trust and CareTrust REIT’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AG Mortgage Investment Trust	20.19%	9.70%	0.46%
CareTrust REIT	36.88%	5.32%	3.95%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for AG Mortgage Investment Trust and CareTrust REIT, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AG Mortgage Investment Trust	0	1	3	0	2.75
CareTrust REIT	1	2	3	0	2.33

AG Mortgage Investment Trust presently has a consensus price target of $8.25, indicating a potential upside of 17.52%. CareTrust REIT has a consensus price target of $30.67, indicating a potential upside of 17.27%. Given AG Mortgage Investment Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe AG Mortgage Investment Trust is more favorable than CareTrust REIT.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

27.3% of AG Mortgage Investment Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.8% of CareTrust REIT shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.2% of AG Mortgage Investment Trust shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.8% of CareTrust REIT shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares AG Mortgage Investment Trust and CareTrust REIT”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AG Mortgage Investment Trust	$260.33 million	0.80	$53.78 million	$2.28	3.08
CareTrust REIT	$219.54 million	20.42	$53.74 million	$0.72	36.32

AG Mortgage Investment Trust has higher revenue and earnings than CareTrust REIT. AG Mortgage Investment Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CareTrust REIT, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

AG Mortgage Investment Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.8%. CareTrust REIT pays an annual dividend of $1.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. AG Mortgage Investment Trust pays out 33.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. CareTrust REIT pays out 161.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. AG Mortgage Investment Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

AG Mortgage Investment Trust beats CareTrust REIT on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About AG Mortgage Investment Trust

AG Mortgage Investment Trust, Inc. operates as a residential mortgage real estate investment trust in the United States. Its investment portfolio includes residential investments, including non-agency loans, agency-eligible loans, re-and non-performing loans, and non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities, as well as commercial loans and commercial mortgage-backed securities. 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. AG Mortgage Investment Trust, Inc. was incorporated in 2011 and is based in New York, New York.

About CareTrust REIT

CareTrust REIT, Inc.’s (CareTrust REIT or the Company) primary business consists of acquiring, financing, developing and owning real property to be leased to third-party tenants in the healthcare sector. As of March 31, 2024, the Company owned directly or through a joint venture and leased to independent operators, 228 skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), multi-service campuses, assisted living facilities (ALFs) and independent living facilities (ILFs) consisting of 24,189 operational beds and units located in 29 states with the highest concentration of properties by rental income located in California and Texas. As of March 31, 2024, the Company also had other real estate related investments consisting of one preferred equity investment, nine real estate secured loans receivable and four mezzanine loans receivable with a carrying value of $233.3 million.