Financial Comparison: Healthcare Realty Trust (NYSE:HR) vs. OUTFRONT Media (NYSE:OUT)

Healthcare Realty Trust (NYSE:HR) and OUTFRONT Media (NYSE:OUT) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings and valuation.

Risk & Volatility

Healthcare Realty Trust has a beta of 0.79, meaning that its share price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, OUTFRONT Media has a beta of 1.87, meaning that its share price is 87% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Healthcare Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.5%. OUTFRONT Media pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.4%. Healthcare Realty Trust pays out -167.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. OUTFRONT Media pays out -44.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Healthcare Realty Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Healthcare Realty Trust and OUTFRONT Media, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Healthcare Realty Trust	0	8	2	0	2.20
OUTFRONT Media	0	3	2	0	2.40

Healthcare Realty Trust presently has a consensus target price of $17.20, indicating a potential upside of 18.50%. OUTFRONT Media has a consensus target price of $14.50, indicating a potential downside of 10.99%. Given Healthcare Realty Trust’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Healthcare Realty Trust is more favorable than OUTFRONT Media.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Healthcare Realty Trust and OUTFRONT Media’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Healthcare Realty Trust	$1.34 billion	4.12	-$278.26 million	($0.74)	-19.61
OUTFRONT Media	$1.82 billion	1.48	-$430.40 million	($2.67)	-6.10

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

Profitability

This table compares Healthcare Realty Trust and OUTFRONT Media’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Healthcare Realty Trust	-20.71%	-3.87%	-2.11%
OUTFRONT Media	-23.64%	-57.90%	-7.56%

Summary

Healthcare Realty Trust beats OUTFRONT Media on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Healthcare Realty Trust

Healthcare Realty (NYSE: HR) is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns and operates medical outpatient buildings primarily located around market-leading hospital campuses. The Company selectively grows its portfolio through property acquisition and development. As the first and largest REIT to specialize in medical outpatient buildings, Healthcare Realty's portfolio includes more than 700 properties totaling over 40 million square feet concentrated in 15 growth markets.

About OUTFRONT Media

OUTFRONT leverages the power of technology, location, and creativity to connect brands with consumers outside of their homes through one of the largest and most diverse sets of billboard, transit, and mobile assets in North America. Through its technology platform, OUTFRONT will fundamentally change the ways advertisers engage audiences on-the-go.