Farmland Partners (NYSE:FPI) vs. Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance (NASDAQ:REFI) Financial Survey

Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance (NASDAQ:REFI) and Farmland Partners (NYSE:FPI) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, dividends, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Risk and Volatility

Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance has a beta of 0.2, indicating that its stock price is 80% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Farmland Partners has a beta of 0.71, indicating that its stock price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance and Farmland Partners’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance	63.27%	13.29%	10.10%
Farmland Partners	36.89%	3.97%	2.01%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

25.5% of Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 58.0% of Farmland Partners shares are held by institutional investors. 12.3% of Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.3% of Farmland Partners shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance and Farmland Partners’ top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance	$57.15 million	5.39	$38.71 million	$1.99	7.89
Farmland Partners	$57.47 million	8.47	$30.91 million	$0.51	19.82

Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Farmland Partners. Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Farmland Partners, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance and Farmland Partners, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance	0	0	1	1	3.50
Farmland Partners	0	0	2	0	3.00

Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance presently has a consensus target price of $20.00, indicating a potential upside of 27.31%. Farmland Partners has a consensus target price of $15.00, indicating a potential upside of 48.37%. Given Farmland Partners’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Farmland Partners is more favorable than Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance.

Dividends

Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance pays an annual dividend of $1.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 12.0%. Farmland Partners pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance pays out 94.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Farmland Partners pays out 47.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Farmland Partners has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years.

About Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance

Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance, Inc. operates as a commercial real estate finance company in the United States. The company engages in originating, structuring, and investing in first mortgage loans and alternative structured financings secured by commercial real estate properties. Its portfolio primarily includes offers senior loans to state-licensed operators in the cannabis industry. The company has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust (REIT) and would not be subject to federal corporate income taxes if it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to its stockholders. Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance, Inc. was incorporated in 2021 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

About Farmland Partners

Farmland Partners Inc. is an internally managed real estate company that owns and seeks to acquire high-quality North American farmland and makes loans to farmers secured by farm real estate. As of December 31, 2023, the Company owns and/or manages approximately 171,100 acres in 16 states, including Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas. In addition, the Company owns land and buildings for four agriculture equipment dealerships in Ohio leased to Ag Pro under the John Deere brand. The Company has approximately 26 crop types and over 100 tenants. The Company elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust, or REIT, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, commencing with the taxable year ended December 31, 2014.