American Tower Corporation (REIT) (NYSE: AMT) and Gladstone Land Corporation (NASDAQ:LAND) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, profitabiliy, earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations and dividends.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
93.3% of American Tower Corporation (REIT) shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 24.0% of Gladstone Land Corporation shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of American Tower Corporation (REIT) shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 21.9% of Gladstone Land Corporation shares are held by company 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.
Dividends
American Tower Corporation (REIT) pays an annual dividend of $2.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Gladstone Land Corporation pays an annual dividend of $0.53 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. American Tower Corporation (REIT) pays out 102.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Gladstone Land Corporation pays out 1,325.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Gladstone Land Corporation has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years. Gladstone Land Corporation is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for American Tower Corporation (REIT) and Gladstone Land Corporation, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| American Tower Corporation (REIT) | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 3.00 |
| Gladstone Land Corporation | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2.67 |
American Tower Corporation (REIT) presently has a consensus target price of $140.00, indicating a potential upside of 2.69%. Gladstone Land Corporation has a consensus target price of $14.25, indicating a potential upside of 17.87%. Given Gladstone Land Corporation’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Gladstone Land Corporation is more favorable than American Tower Corporation (REIT).
Profitability
This table compares American Tower Corporation (REIT) and Gladstone Land Corporation’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| American Tower Corporation (REIT) | 18.58% | 16.70% | 3.74% |
| Gladstone Land Corporation | 2.10% | 0.45% | 0.12% |
Volatility and Risk
American Tower Corporation (REIT) has a beta of 0.71, suggesting that its share price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Gladstone Land Corporation has a beta of 1.03, suggesting that its share price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares American Tower Corporation (REIT) and Gladstone Land Corporation’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | EBITDA | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| American Tower Corporation (REIT) | $6.33 billion | 9.20 | $3.74 billion | $2.49 | 54.75 |
| Gladstone Land Corporation | $19.38 million | 7.39 | $13.92 million | $0.04 | 302.33 |
American Tower Corporation (REIT) has higher revenue and earnings than Gladstone Land Corporation. American Tower Corporation (REIT) is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Gladstone Land Corporation, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
American Tower Corporation (REIT) beats Gladstone Land Corporation on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
American Tower Corporation (REIT) Company Profile
American Tower Corporation (ATC) is a holding company. The Company operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT), which owns, operates and develops multitenant communications real estate. ATC’s segments include U.S. property, Asia property, EMEA property, Latin America property, Services and Other. Its primary business is property operations, which include the leasing of space on communications sites to wireless service providers, radio and television broadcast companies, wireless data providers, government agencies and municipalities, and tenants in various other industries. Its U.S. property segment includes operations in the United States. Its Asia property segment includes operations in India. The EMEA property segment includes operations in Germany, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda. The Latin America property segment includes operations in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico and Peru. Its services segment offers tower-related services in the United States.
Gladstone Land Corporation Company Profile
Gladstone Land Corporation is an agricultural real estate investment trust (REIT). The Company is engaged in the business of owning and leasing farmland. The Company also owns various farm-related facilities, such as cooling facilities, buildings utilized for the storage and assembly of boxes for shipping produce (box barns), packinghouses, processing facilities and various storage facilities. The Company is engaged in leasing its farms and farm-related facilities to independent or corporate farming operations. As of June 1, 2017, the Company owned 63 farms, including 57,593 total acres across seven states in the United States (Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Nebraska and Oregon). As of December 31, 2016, the Company’s farms and facilities were leased to 40 different, unrelated tenants that are either independent or corporate farming operations. The Company focuses to own primarily single-tenant, agricultural real property.
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