Analyzing Sun Communities (NYSE:SUI) and SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC)

Sun Communities (NYSE:SUI) and SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Sun Communities and SBA Communications, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sun Communities	1	8	5	0	2.29
SBA Communications	0	4	8	1	2.77

Sun Communities presently has a consensus target price of $137.08, suggesting a potential upside of 10.83%. SBA Communications has a consensus target price of $254.92, suggesting a potential upside of 25.23%. Given SBA Communications’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe SBA Communications is more favorable than Sun Communities.

Profitability

This table compares Sun Communities and SBA Communications’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sun Communities	7.46%	3.21%	1.40%
SBA Communications	25.76%	-13.13%	6.83%

Risk and Volatility

Sun Communities has a beta of 0.88, indicating that its stock price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SBA Communications has a beta of 0.67, indicating that its stock price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

99.6% of Sun Communities shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.3% of SBA Communications shares are held by institutional investors. 1.9% of Sun Communities shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of SBA Communications shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Sun Communities and SBA Communications”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sun Communities	$3.18 billion	4.95	-$201.00 million	$1.86	66.49
SBA Communications	$2.66 billion	8.23	$501.81 million	$6.34	32.11

SBA Communications has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Sun Communities. SBA Communications is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Sun Communities, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Sun Communities pays an annual dividend of $3.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. SBA Communications pays an annual dividend of $3.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Sun Communities pays out 202.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. SBA Communications pays out 61.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Summary

SBA Communications beats Sun Communities on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sun Communities

Established in 1975, Sun Communities, Inc. became a publicly owned corporation in December 1993. The Company is a fully integrated REIT listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol: SUI. As of December 31, 2023, the Company owned, operated, or had an interest in a portfolio of 667 developed MH, RV and Marina properties comprising 179,310 developed sites and approximately 48,030 wet slips and dry storage spaces in the U.S., the UK and Canada.

About SBA Communications

SBA Communications Corporation is a leading independent owner and operator of wireless communications infrastructure including towers, buildings, rooftops, distributed antenna systems (DAS) and small cells. With a portfolio of more than 39,000 communications sites throughout the Americas, Africa and in Asia, SBA is listed on NASDAQ under the symbol SBAC. Our organization is part of the S&P 500 and is one of the top Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) by market capitalization.