Howard Hughes (NYSE:HHH) versus Alexander’s (NYSE:ALX) Critical Contrast

Howard Hughes (NYSE:HHH) and Alexander’s (NYSE:ALX) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Howard Hughes and Alexander’s, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Howard Hughes	0	0	2	0	3.00
Alexander’s	1	0	0	0	1.00

Howard Hughes presently has a consensus price target of $82.00, suggesting a potential upside of 7.39%. Alexander’s has a consensus price target of $125.00, suggesting a potential downside of 45.41%. Given Howard Hughes’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Howard Hughes is more favorable than Alexander’s.

Profitability

This table compares Howard Hughes and Alexander’s’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Howard Hughes	-49.52%	-0.33%	-0.10%
Alexander’s	22.10%	22.11%	3.62%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

93.8% of Howard Hughes shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 32.0% of Alexander’s shares are held by institutional investors. 33.0% of Howard Hughes shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 26.3% of Alexander’s shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Howard Hughes and Alexander’s”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Howard Hughes	$1.09 billion	3.51	-$550.95 million	($11.73)	-6.51
Alexander’s	$233.14 million	5.02	$102.41 million	$20.92	10.95

Alexander’s has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Howard Hughes. Howard Hughes is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Alexander’s, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Howard Hughes has a beta of 1.45, indicating that its stock price is 45% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alexander’s has a beta of 0.82, indicating that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

About Howard Hughes

Howard Hughes Holdings Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a real estate development company in the United States. It operates in four segments: Operating Assets; Master Planned Communities (MPCs); Seaport; and Strategic Developments. The Operating Assets segment consists of developed or acquired retail, office, and multi-family properties along with other retail investments. Its MPCs segment develops, sells, and leases residential and commercial land designated for long-term community development projects in and around Las Vegas, Nevada; Houston, Texas; and Phoenix, Arizona. The Seaport segment is involved in the landlord operations, managed businesses, and events and sponsorships services of its restaurant, retail, and entertain properties in Pier 17, New York City; Historic Area/Uplands; and Tin Building, as well as in 250 Water Street and in the Jean-Georges restaurants. The Strategic Development segment develops and redevelops residential condominiums and commercial properties. It serves homebuilders. Howard Hughes Holdings Inc. was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas.

About Alexander’s

Alexander’s, Inc. (NYSE: ALX) is a real estate investment trust (REIT), incorporated in Delaware, engaged in leasing, managing, developing and redeveloping its properties. All references to we, us, our, Company and Alexander’s refer to Alexander’s, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries. We are managed by, and our properties are leased and developed by, Vornado Realty Trust (Vornado) (NYSE: VNO). We have five properties in New York City.