Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) and Healthcare Realty Trust (NYSE:HR) Head-To-Head Analysis

Healthcare Realty Trust (NYSE:HR) and Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, profitability, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Risk & Volatility

Healthcare Realty Trust has a beta of 0.93, meaning that its share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lamar Advertising has a beta of 1.5, meaning that its share price is 50% 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 7.2%. Lamar Advertising pays an annual dividend of $5.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. Healthcare Realty Trust pays out -78.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Lamar Advertising pays out 112.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Healthcare Realty Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Healthcare Realty Trust	-45.63%	-9.42%	-4.90%
Lamar Advertising	23.46%	42.58%	7.82%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

93.8% of Lamar Advertising shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Healthcare Realty Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 15.0% of Lamar Advertising shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Healthcare Realty Trust and Lamar Advertising, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Healthcare Realty Trust	1	4	1	0	2.00
Lamar Advertising	0	4	1	0	2.20

Healthcare Realty Trust currently has a consensus price target of $17.17, suggesting a potential downside of 0.31%. Lamar Advertising has a consensus price target of $132.40, suggesting a potential upside of 2.64%. Given Lamar Advertising’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Lamar Advertising is more favorable than Healthcare Realty Trust.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Healthcare Realty Trust and Lamar Advertising”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Healthcare Realty Trust	$1.34 billion	4.54	-$278.26 million	($1.58)	-10.90
Lamar Advertising	$2.11 billion	6.26	$495.76 million	$5.00	25.80

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

Summary

Lamar Advertising beats Healthcare Realty Trust on 13 of the 15 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 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.