Critical Comparison: Alpine Income Property Trust (NYSE:PINE) versus National Health Investors (NYSE:NHI)

Alpine Income Property Trust (NYSE:PINE) and National Health Investors (NYSE:NHI) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares Alpine Income Property Trust and National Health Investors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Alpine Income Property Trust	-1.45%	-0.24%	-0.12%
National Health Investors	41.40%	10.41%	5.30%

Dividends

Alpine Income Property Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.1%. National Health Investors pays an annual dividend of $3.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.3%. Alpine Income Property Trust pays out -2,750.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. National Health Investors pays out 118.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Alpine Income Property Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

60.5% of Alpine Income Property Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 62.5% of National Health Investors shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of Alpine Income Property Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.3% of National Health Investors shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Alpine Income Property Trust and National Health Investors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Alpine Income Property Trust	0	0	5	0	3.00
National Health Investors	0	4	4	0	2.50

Alpine Income Property Trust presently has a consensus target price of $18.69, indicating a potential upside of 20.10%. National Health Investors has a consensus target price of $62.13, indicating a potential downside of 8.28%. Given Alpine Income Property Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Alpine Income Property Trust is more favorable than National Health Investors.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Alpine Income Property Trust and National Health Investors’ gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Alpine Income Property Trust	$45.64 million	4.64	$2.92 million	($0.04)	-389.00
National Health Investors	$319.83 million	9.19	$135.65 million	$3.05	22.21

National Health Investors has higher revenue and earnings than Alpine Income Property Trust. Alpine Income Property Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than National Health Investors, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Alpine Income Property Trust has a beta of 0.79, indicating that its stock price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, National Health Investors has a beta of 1, indicating that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.

Summary

National Health Investors beats Alpine Income Property Trust on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Alpine Income Property Trust

Alpine Income Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE: PINE) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that seeks to deliver attractive risk-adjusted returns and dependable cash dividends by investing in, owning and operating a portfolio of single tenant net leased properties that are predominately leased to high-quality publicly traded and credit-rated tenants.

About National Health Investors

Incorporated in 1991, National Health Investors, Inc. (NYSE:NHI) is a real estate investment trust specializing in sale, leasebacks, joint-ventures, senior housing operating partnerships, and mortgage and mezzanine financing of need-driven and discretionary senior housing and medical investments. NHI's portfolio consists of independent living, assisted living and memory care communities, entrance-fee retirement communities, skilled nursing facilities, and specialty hospitals.