Analyzing Empire State Realty OP (NYSE:ESBA) & Orion Office REIT (NYSE:ONL)

Empire State Realty OP (NYSE:ESBA) and Orion Office REIT (NYSE:ONL) are both real estate companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Empire State Realty OP and Orion Office REIT, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Empire State Realty OP	0	0	0	0	N/A
Orion Office REIT	0	0	0	0	N/A

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Empire State Realty OP and Orion Office REIT’s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Empire State Realty OP	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Orion Office REIT	$195.04 million	1.04	-$57.30 million	($1.33)	-2.73

Empire State Realty OP has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Orion Office REIT.

Profitability

This table compares Empire State Realty OP and Orion Office REIT’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Empire State Realty OP	N/A	N/A	N/A
Orion Office REIT	-38.87%	-8.32%	-5.11%

Dividends

Empire State Realty OP pays an annual dividend of $0.14 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Orion Office REIT pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 11.0%. Orion Office REIT pays out -30.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Orion Office REIT has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Orion Office REIT is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

80.0% of Orion Office REIT shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Orion Office REIT shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Orion Office REIT beats Empire State Realty OP on 6 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Empire State Realty OP

Empire State Realty OP, L.P. operates as a subsidiary of Empire State Realty Trust, Inc.

About Orion Office REIT

Orion Office REIT specializes in the ownership, acquisition and management of a diversified portfolio of mission-critical and corporate headquarters office buildings in high-quality suburban markets across the U.S. The portfolio is leased primarily on a single-tenant net lease basis to creditworthy tenants. The company's team of experienced industry leaders employs a proven, cycle-tested investment evaluation framework which serves as the lens through which capital allocation decisions are made for the current portfolio and future acquisitions.