SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC – Get Free Report) and Rayonier (NYSE:RYN – Get Free Report) are both real estate companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability and earnings.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares SBA Communications and Rayonier”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| SBA Communications | $2.82 billion | 5.96 | $1.05 billion | $9.28 | 17.03 |
| Rayonier | $484.50 million | 11.20 | $474.38 million | $0.45 | 40.51 |
Institutional & Insider Ownership
97.3% of SBA Communications shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.1% of Rayonier shares are held by institutional investors. 9.5% of SBA Communications shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Rayonier shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Dividends
SBA Communications pays an annual dividend of $5.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Rayonier pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.7%. SBA Communications pays out 53.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Rayonier pays out 231.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. SBA Communications has increased its dividend for 6 consecutive years.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of current recommendations for SBA Communications and Rayonier, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| SBA Communications | 0 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 2.44 |
| Rayonier | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 2.33 |
SBA Communications presently has a consensus target price of $224.80, suggesting a potential upside of 42.26%. Rayonier has a consensus target price of $24.80, suggesting a potential upside of 36.05%. Given SBA Communications’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe SBA Communications is more favorable than Rayonier.
Volatility and Risk
SBA Communications has a beta of 1, indicating that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, Rayonier has a beta of 0.89, indicating that its share price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares SBA Communications and Rayonier’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| SBA Communications | 34.51% | -20.67% | 8.56% |
| Rayonier | 7.83% | 3.49% | 2.37% |
Summary
SBA Communications beats Rayonier on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.
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.
About Rayonier
Rayonier is a leading timberland real estate investment trust with assets located in some of the most productive softwood timber growing regions in the United States and New Zealand. As of December 31, 2023, Rayonier owned or leased under long-term agreements approximately 2.7 million acres of timberlands located in the U.S. South (1.85 million acres), U.S. Pacific Northwest (418,000 acres) and New Zealand (421,000 acres).
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