Financial Comparison: Sunstone Hotel Investors (NYSE:SHO) versus Murano Global Investments (NASDAQ:MRNO)

Sunstone Hotel Investors (NYSE:SHO) and Murano Global Investments (NASDAQ:MRNO) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends and earnings.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

99.4% of Sunstone Hotel Investors shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 11.8% of Murano Global Investments shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of Sunstone Hotel Investors shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 71.2% of Murano Global Investments shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Sunstone Hotel Investors has a beta of 1.25, indicating that its stock price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Murano Global Investments has a beta of 0.11, indicating that its stock price is 89% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Sunstone Hotel Investors and Murano Global Investments, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sunstone Hotel Investors	2	3	2	1	2.25
Murano Global Investments	0	0	0	0	N/A

Sunstone Hotel Investors currently has a consensus price target of $11.00, suggesting a potential upside of 8.16%. Given Sunstone Hotel Investors’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Sunstone Hotel Investors is more favorable than Murano Global Investments.

Profitability

This table compares Sunstone Hotel Investors and Murano Global Investments’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sunstone Hotel Investors	19.51%	9.75%	5.80%
Murano Global Investments	N/A	N/A	N/A

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Sunstone Hotel Investors and Murano Global Investments’ top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sunstone Hotel Investors	$986.48 million	2.10	$206.71 million	$0.90	11.30
Murano Global Investments	$350.27 million	0.28	-$8.71 million	N/A	N/A

Sunstone Hotel Investors has higher revenue and earnings than Murano Global Investments.

Summary

Sunstone Hotel Investors beats Murano Global Investments on 11 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sunstone Hotel Investors

Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. is a lodging real estate investment trust ("REIT") that as of the date of this release owns 14 hotels comprised of 6,675 rooms, the majority of which are operated under nationally recognized brands. Sunstone's strategy is to create long-term stakeholder value through the acquisition, active ownership, and disposition of well-located hotel and resort real estate.

About Murano Global Investments

HCM Acquisition Corp is a blank check company. It intends to effect a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or related business combination with one or more businesses. HCM Acquisition Corp is based in Stamford, Connecticut.