Gladstone Land (NASDAQ:LANDP – Get Free Report) and SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC – Get Free Report) are both real estate companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends and analyst recommendations.
Dividends
Gladstone Land pays an annual dividend of $1.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.1%. SBA Communications pays an annual dividend of $5.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. SBA Communications pays out 52.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. SBA Communications has raised its dividend for 6 consecutive years.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Gladstone Land and SBA Communications”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Gladstone Land | $88.09 million | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| SBA Communications | $2.82 billion | 6.82 | $1.05 billion | $9.50 | 19.05 |
SBA Communications has higher revenue and earnings than Gladstone Land.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Gladstone Land and SBA Communications, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Gladstone Land | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| SBA Communications | 0 | 8 | 9 | 1 | 2.61 |
SBA Communications has a consensus target price of $235.28, indicating a potential upside of 29.99%. Given SBA Communications’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe SBA Communications is more favorable than Gladstone Land.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
97.3% of SBA Communications shares are held by institutional investors. 9.5% of SBA Communications shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Profitability
This table compares Gladstone Land and SBA Communications’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Gladstone Land | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| SBA Communications | 35.66% | -20.90% | 8.98% |
Summary
SBA Communications beats Gladstone Land on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Gladstone Land
Founded in 1997, Gladstone Land is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that acquires and owns farmland and farm-related properties located in major agricultural markets in the U.S. and leases its properties to unrelated third-party farmers. The Company, which reports the aggregate fair value of its farmland holdings on a quarterly basis, currently owns 169 farms, comprised of approximately 116,000 acres in 15 different states and over 45,000 acre-feet of banked water in California, valued at a total of approximately $1.6 billion. Gladstone Land's farms are predominantly located in regions where its tenants are able to grow fresh produce annual row crops, such as berries and vegetables, which are generally planted and harvested annually. The Company also owns farms growing permanent crops, such as almonds, apples, cherries, figs, lemons, olives, pistachios, and other orchards, as well as blueberry groves and vineyards, which are generally planted every 20-plus years and harvested annually. Approximately 40% of the Company's fresh produce acreage is either organic or in transition to become organic, and over 10% of its permanent crop acreage falls into this category. The Company may also acquire property related to farming, such as cooling facilities, processing buildings, packaging facilities, and distribution centers. Gladstone Land pays monthly distributions to its stockholders and has paid 129 consecutive monthly cash distributions on its common stock since its initial public offering in January 2013. The Company has increased its common distributions 32 times over the prior 35 quarters, and the current per-share distribution on its common stock is $0.0464 per month, or $0.5568 per year.
About SBA Communications
SBA Communications Corporation is a leading independent owner and operator of wireless communications infrastructure including towers, buildings, rooftops, distributed antenna systems (DAS) and small cells. With a portfolio of more than 39,000 communications sites throughout the Americas, Africa and in Asia, SBA is listed on NASDAQ under the symbol SBAC. Our organization is part of the S&P 500 and is one of the top Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) by market capitalization.
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