Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) vs. Elme Communities (NYSE:ELME) Head-To-Head Survey

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) and Elme Communities (NYSE:ELME) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Lamar Advertising and Elme Communities’ top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lamar Advertising	$2.16 billion	5.95	$495.76 million	$4.87	25.82
Elme Communities	$227.91 million	6.82	-$52.98 million	($0.61)	-28.97

Lamar Advertising has higher revenue and earnings than Elme Communities. Elme Communities is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Lamar Advertising, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Lamar Advertising and Elme Communities, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lamar Advertising	0	3	1	0	2.25
Elme Communities	0	2	1	0	2.33

Lamar Advertising presently has a consensus target price of $123.25, suggesting a potential downside of 1.99%. Elme Communities has a consensus target price of $16.00, suggesting a potential downside of 9.45%. Given Lamar Advertising’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Lamar Advertising is more favorable than Elme Communities.

Profitability

This table compares Lamar Advertising and Elme Communities’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lamar Advertising	23.34%	42.18%	7.69%
Elme Communities	-22.90%	-4.70%	-2.85%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

93.8% of Lamar Advertising shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.9% of Elme Communities shares are held by institutional investors. 15.0% of Lamar Advertising shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of Elme Communities shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Lamar Advertising has a beta of 1.52, meaning that its stock price is 52% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Elme Communities has a beta of 0.9, meaning that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Lamar Advertising pays an annual dividend of $5.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.5%. Elme Communities pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Lamar Advertising pays out 115.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Elme Communities pays out -118.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Summary

Lamar Advertising beats Elme Communities on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lamar Advertising

Lamar Advertising Company operates as an outdoor advertising company in the United States and Canada. The company owns and operates billboards, logo signs, and transit advertising displays, as well as rents space for advertising on billboards, buses, shelters, benches, logo plates, and in airport terminals. Lamar Advertising Company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

About Elme Communities

Elme Communities is committed to elevating what home can be for middle-income renters by providing a higher level of quality, service, and experience. The Company is a multifamily real estate investment trust that owns and operates approximately 9,400 apartment homes in the Washington, DC metro and the Atlanta metro regions, and owns approximately 300,000 square feet of commercial space. Focused on providing quality, affordable homes to a deep, solid, and underserved base of mid-market demand, Elme Communities is building long-term value for shareholders.