Analyzing W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) and Franklin BSP Realty Trust (NYSE:FBRT)

Franklin BSP Realty Trust (NYSE:FBRT) and W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and dividends.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

59.9% of Franklin BSP Realty Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 73.7% of W. P. Carey shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of Franklin BSP Realty Trust shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of W. P. Carey shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations for Franklin BSP Realty Trust and W. P. Carey, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Franklin BSP Realty Trust	0	0	4	2	3.33
W. P. Carey	1	6	2	0	2.11

Franklin BSP Realty Trust presently has a consensus price target of $15.50, suggesting a potential upside of 28.31%. W. P. Carey has a consensus price target of $62.57, suggesting a potential upside of 16.02%. Given Franklin BSP Realty Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Franklin BSP Realty Trust is more favorable than W. P. Carey.

Dividends

Franklin BSP Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.42 per share and has a dividend yield of 11.8%. W. P. Carey pays an annual dividend of $3.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.5%. Franklin BSP Realty Trust pays out 173.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. W. P. Carey pays out 138.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Profitability

This table compares Franklin BSP Realty Trust and W. P. Carey’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Franklin BSP Realty Trust	45.58%	8.92%	1.89%
W. P. Carey	35.12%	6.45%	3.14%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Franklin BSP Realty Trust and W. P. Carey”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Franklin BSP Realty Trust	$548.44 million	1.80	$145.21 million	$0.82	14.73
W. P. Carey	$1.59 billion	7.43	$708.33 million	$2.54	21.23

W. P. Carey has higher revenue and earnings than Franklin BSP Realty Trust. Franklin BSP Realty Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than W. P. Carey, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Franklin BSP Realty Trust has a beta of 1.39, meaning that its stock price is 39% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, W. P. Carey has a beta of 0.97, meaning that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

W. P. Carey beats Franklin BSP Realty Trust on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Franklin BSP Realty Trust

Benefit Street Partners operates as a self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT). BSP earns income from investing in a leveraged portfolio of residential mortgage pass-through securities consisting almost exclusively of adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) securities issued and guaranteed by government-sponsored enterprises, either Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) or Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) (together, the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs)), or by an agency of the federal government, Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae). BSP’s investment strategy focuses on managing a portfolio of residential mortgage investments consisting almost exclusively of ARM Agency Securities. As of December 31, 2012, the Company’s securities consisted of Agency Securities classified as available-for-sale and Residential mortgage securities classified as held-to-maturity.

About W. P. Carey

W. P. Carey ranks among the largest net lease REITs with a well-diversified portfolio of high-quality, operationally critical commercial real estate, which includes 1,424 net lease properties covering approximately 173 million square feet and a portfolio of 89 self-storage operating properties as of December 31, 2023. With offices in New York, London, Amsterdam and Dallas, the company remains focused on investing primarily in single-tenant, industrial, warehouse and retail properties located in the U.S. and Northern and Western Europe, under long-term net leases with built-in rent escalations.