Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI – Get Free Report) and Safehold (NYSE:SAFE – Get Free Report) are both real estate companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, risk and valuation.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares Crown Castle and Safehold”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Crown Castle | $4.26 billion | 7.44 | $444.00 million | $1.97 | 37.84 |
| Safehold | $385.55 million | 2.82 | $114.47 million | $1.62 | 9.47 |
Insider and Institutional Ownership
90.8% of Crown Castle shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.4% of Safehold shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of Crown Castle shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.8% of Safehold shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Dividends
Crown Castle pays an annual dividend of $4.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.7%. Safehold pays an annual dividend of $0.71 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.6%. Crown Castle pays out 215.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Safehold pays out 43.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Safehold has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years.
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of current recommendations for Crown Castle and Safehold, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Crown Castle | 0 | 12 | 7 | 2 | 2.52 |
| Safehold | 1 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2.10 |
Crown Castle presently has a consensus target price of $95.13, indicating a potential upside of 27.60%. Safehold has a consensus target price of $17.17, indicating a potential upside of 11.85%. Given Crown Castle’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Crown Castle is more favorable than Safehold.
Volatility & Risk
Crown Castle has a beta of 0.95, suggesting that its stock price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Safehold has a beta of 1.73, suggesting that its stock price is 73% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares Crown Castle and Safehold’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Crown Castle | 20.71% | -51.60% | 3.70% |
| Safehold | 27.70% | 4.76% | 1.62% |
Summary
Crown Castle beats Safehold on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Crown Castle
Crown Castle owns, operates and leases more than 40,000 cell towers and approximately 90,000 route miles of fiber supporting small cells and fiber solutions across every major U.S. market. This nationwide portfolio of communications infrastructure connects cities and communities to essential data, technology and wireless service – bringing information, ideas and innovations to the people and businesses that need them.
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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