Reviewing Arbor Realty Trust (NYSE:ABR) and Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD)

Arbor Realty Trust (NYSE:ABR) and Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, risk, dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Arbor Realty Trust and Americold Realty Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Arbor Realty Trust	2	2	2	0	2.00
Americold Realty Trust	0	2	9	0	2.82

Arbor Realty Trust presently has a consensus price target of $13.92, suggesting a potential downside of 8.98%. Americold Realty Trust has a consensus price target of $30.91, suggesting a potential upside of 14.61%. Given Americold Realty Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Americold Realty Trust is more favorable than Arbor Realty Trust.

Dividends

Arbor Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 11.4%. Americold Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Arbor Realty Trust pays out 106.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Americold Realty Trust pays out -75.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Arbor Realty Trust has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years. Arbor Realty Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

57.3% of Arbor Realty Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.1% of Americold Realty Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.7% of Arbor Realty Trust shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Americold Realty Trust shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Arbor Realty Trust has a beta of 2.06, meaning that its stock price is 106% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Americold Realty Trust has a beta of 0.6, meaning that its stock price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Arbor Realty Trust and Americold Realty Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Arbor Realty Trust	24.59%	15.75%	2.68%
Americold Realty Trust	-10.60%	-7.74%	-3.60%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Arbor Realty Trust and Americold Realty Trust”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Arbor Realty Trust	$683.14 million	4.16	$371.43 million	$1.61	9.36
Americold Realty Trust	$2.67 billion	2.85	-$336.21 million	($1.17)	-22.95

Arbor Realty Trust has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Americold Realty Trust. Americold Realty Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Arbor Realty Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Arbor Realty Trust beats Americold Realty Trust on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Arbor Realty Trust

Arbor Realty Trust, Inc. invests in a diversified portfolio of structured finance assets in the multifamily, single-family rental, and commercial real estate markets in the United States. The company operates through Structured Business and Agency Business segments. It primarily invests in bridge and mezzanine loans, including junior participating interests in first mortgages, and preferred and direct equity, as well as real estate-related joint ventures, real estate-related notes, and various mortgage-related securities. In addition, the company offers bridge financing products to borrowers who seek short-term capital to be used in an acquisition of property; financing by making preferred equity investments in entities that directly or indirectly own real property; mezzanine financing in the form of loans that are subordinate to a conventional first mortgage loan and senior to the borrower’s equity in a transaction; junior participation financing in the form of a junior participating interest in the senior debt; and financing products to borrowers who are looking to acquire conventional, workforce, and affordable single-family housing. Further, it underwrites, originates, sells, and services multifamily mortgage loans through conduit/commercial mortgage-backed securities programs. 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. Arbor Realty Trust, Inc. was incorporated in 2003 and is headquartered in Uniondale, New York.

About Americold Realty Trust

Americold is a global leader in temperature-controlled logistics real estate and value added services. Focused on the ownership, operation, acquisition and development of temperature-controlled warehouses, Americold owns and/or operates 245 temperature-controlled warehouses, with approximately 1.5 billion refrigerated cubic feet of storage, in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and South America. Americold's facilities are an integral component of the supply chain connecting food producers, processors, distributors and retailers to consumers.