Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR – Get Free Report) and Safehold (NYSE:SAFE – Get Free Report) are both real estate companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership and dividends.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
93.8% of Lamar Advertising shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.4% of Safehold shares are held by institutional investors. 15.2% of Lamar Advertising shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.8% of Safehold shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Volatility and Risk
Lamar Advertising has a beta of 1.19, meaning that its share price is 19% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Safehold has a beta of 1.75, meaning that its share price is 75% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Dividends
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Lamar Advertising and Safehold, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Lamar Advertising | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2.40 |
| Safehold | 1 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 2.20 |
Lamar Advertising currently has a consensus price target of $154.67, suggesting a potential downside of 2.41%. Safehold has a consensus price target of $18.71, suggesting a potential upside of 16.31%. Given Safehold’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Safehold is more favorable than Lamar Advertising.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Lamar Advertising and Safehold”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Lamar Advertising | $2.27 billion | 7.10 | $587.15 million | $5.42 | 29.24 |
| Safehold | $419.53 million | 2.72 | $114.47 million | $1.62 | 9.93 |
Lamar Advertising has higher revenue and earnings than Safehold. Safehold is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Lamar Advertising, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares Lamar Advertising and Safehold’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Lamar Advertising | 24.01% | 55.53% | 8.04% |
| Safehold | 27.70% | 4.76% | 1.62% |
Summary
Lamar Advertising beats Safehold on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Lamar Advertising
Lamar Advertising Company operates as an outdoor advertising company in the United States and Canada. The company owns and operates billboards, logo signs, and transit advertising displays, as well as rents space for advertising on billboards, buses, shelters, benches, logo plates, and in airport terminals. Lamar Advertising Company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
About Safehold
Safehold Inc. (NYSE: SAFE) is revolutionizing real estate ownership by providing a new and better way for owners to unlock the value of the land beneath their buildings. Having created the modern ground lease industry in 2017, Safehold continues to help owners of high quality multifamily, office, industrial, hospitality, student housing, life science and mixed-use properties generate higher returns with less risk. The Company, which is taxed as a real estate investment trust (REIT), seeks to deliver safe, growing income and long-term capital appreciation to its shareholders.
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