American Tower (NYSE:AMT – Get Free Report) and Granite Point Mortgage Trust (NYSE:GPMT – Get Free Report) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation and profitability.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for American Tower and Granite Point Mortgage Trust, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| American Tower | 0 | 3 | 10 | 3 | 3.00 |
| Granite Point Mortgage Trust | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2.33 |
American Tower currently has a consensus target price of $225.21, indicating a potential upside of 8.69%. Granite Point Mortgage Trust has a consensus target price of $3.38, indicating a potential upside of 18.63%. Given Granite Point Mortgage Trust’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Granite Point Mortgage Trust is more favorable than American Tower.
Profitability
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| American Tower | 10.05% | 22.01% | 3.55% |
| Granite Point Mortgage Trust | -111.59% | -14.08% | -4.02% |
Institutional and Insider Ownership
92.7% of American Tower shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.6% of Granite Point Mortgage Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of American Tower shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.3% of Granite Point Mortgage Trust shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares American Tower and Granite Point Mortgage Trust”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| American Tower | $10.13 billion | 9.56 | $1.48 billion | $4.81 | 43.08 |
| Granite Point Mortgage Trust | $39.86 million | 3.57 | -$207.05 million | ($4.39) | -0.65 |
American Tower has higher revenue and earnings than Granite Point Mortgage Trust. Granite Point Mortgage Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than American Tower, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Volatility & Risk
American Tower has a beta of 0.84, indicating that its share price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Granite Point Mortgage Trust has a beta of 1.86, indicating that its share price is 86% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Dividends
American Tower pays an annual dividend of $6.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Granite Point Mortgage Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.0%. American Tower pays out 134.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Granite Point Mortgage Trust pays out -4.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Granite Point Mortgage Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Summary
American Tower beats Granite Point Mortgage Trust on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
About American Tower
American Tower, one of the largest global REITs, is a leading independent owner, operator and developer of multitenant communications real estate with a portfolio of over 224,000 communications sites and a highly interconnected footprint of U.S. data center facilities.
About Granite Point Mortgage Trust
Granite Point Mortgage Trust Inc., a real estate investment trust, originates, invests in, and manages senior floating-rate commercial mortgage loans, and other debt and debt-like commercial real estate investments in the United States. The company provides intermediate-term bridge or transitional financing for various purposes, including acquisitions, recapitalizations, and refinancing, as well as a range of business plans, including lease-up, renovation, repositioning, and repurposing of the commercial property. The company qualifies as a real estate investment trust for federal income tax purposes. It generally would not be subject to federal corporate income taxes if it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to its stockholders. The company was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in New York, New York.
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