Plymouth Industrial REIT (NYSE:PLYM) and Highlands REIT (OTCMKTS:HHDS) Critical Analysis

Plymouth Industrial REIT (NYSE:PLYM) and Highlands REIT (OTCMKTS:HHDS) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, risk, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Risk and Volatility

Plymouth Industrial REIT has a beta of 1.34, meaning that its stock price is 34% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Highlands REIT has a beta of 21.44, meaning that its stock price is 2,044% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

92.7% of Plymouth Industrial REIT shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of Highlands REIT shares are held by institutional investors. 1.4% of Plymouth Industrial REIT shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.7% of Highlands REIT shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Plymouth Industrial REIT and Highlands REIT, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Plymouth Industrial REIT	1	5	3	0	2.22
Highlands REIT	0	0	0	0	0.00

Plymouth Industrial REIT currently has a consensus price target of $23.89, indicating a potential upside of 43.48%. Given Plymouth Industrial REIT’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Plymouth Industrial REIT is more favorable than Highlands REIT.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Plymouth Industrial REIT and Highlands REIT”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Plymouth Industrial REIT	$199.85 million	3.78	$13.66 million	$0.02	832.50
Highlands REIT	$30.98 million	0.37	-$10.30 million	N/A	N/A

Plymouth Industrial REIT has higher revenue and earnings than Highlands REIT.

Profitability

This table compares Plymouth Industrial REIT and Highlands REIT’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Plymouth Industrial REIT	0.46%	0.20%	0.06%
Highlands REIT	-11.68%	-1.98%	-1.19%

Summary

Plymouth Industrial REIT beats Highlands REIT on 10 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Plymouth Industrial REIT

Plymouth Industrial REIT, Inc. (NYSE: PLYM) is a full service, vertically integrated real estate investment company focused on the acquisition, ownership and management of single and multi-tenant industrial properties. Our mission is to provide tenants with cost effective space that is functional, flexible and safe.

About Highlands REIT

We are a self-advised and self-administered real estate investment trust (REIT) created to own and manage substantially all of the non-core investment properties previously owned and managed by our former parent, InvenTrust Properties Corp., a Maryland corporation (InvenTrust). On April 28, 2016, we were spun-off from InvenTrust through a pro rata distribution (the Distribution) by InvenTrust of 100% of the outstanding shares of our common stock to holders of InvenTrust's common stock. Prior to or concurrent with the separation, we and InvenTrust engaged in certain reorganization transactions that were designed to consolidate substantially all of InvenTrust's remaining non-core investment properties in Highlands.