Reviewing Prologis (NYSE:PLD) and SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC)

SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC) and Prologis (NYSE:PLD) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, valuation, risk, institutional ownership, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares SBA Communications and Prologis”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
SBA Communications	$2.68 billion	9.38	$501.81 million	$5.10	45.79
Prologis	$8.02 billion	13.87	$3.06 billion	$3.03	39.67

Prologis has higher revenue and earnings than SBA Communications. Prologis is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than SBA Communications, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

97.3% of SBA Communications shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.5% of Prologis shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.3% of SBA Communications shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Prologis shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

SBA Communications pays an annual dividend of $3.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Prologis pays an annual dividend of $3.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. SBA Communications pays out 76.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Prologis pays out 126.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Prologis has raised its dividend for 11 consecutive years. Prologis is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares SBA Communications and Prologis’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SBA Communications	19.22%	-9.85%	5.11%
Prologis	36.37%	4.88%	3.04%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for SBA Communications and Prologis, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SBA Communications	0	3	9	0	2.75
Prologis	0	6	10	1	2.71

SBA Communications presently has a consensus target price of $247.42, suggesting a potential upside of 5.96%. Prologis has a consensus target price of $132.71, suggesting a potential upside of 10.40%. Given Prologis’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Prologis is more favorable than SBA Communications.

Risk and Volatility

SBA Communications has a beta of 0.67, suggesting that its stock price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Prologis has a beta of 1.07, suggesting that its stock price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Prologis beats SBA Communications on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About SBA Communications

SBA Communications Corporation is a leading independent owner and operator of wireless communications infrastructure including towers, buildings, rooftops, distributed antenna systems (DAS) and small cells. With a portfolio of more than 39,000 communications sites throughout the Americas, Africa and in Asia, SBA is listed on NASDAQ under the symbol SBAC. Our organization is part of the S&P 500 and is one of the top Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) by market capitalization.

About Prologis

Prologis, Inc. is the global leader in logistics real estate with a focus on high-barrier, high-growth markets. At March 31, 2024, the company owned or had investments in, on a wholly owned basis or through co-investment ventures, properties and development projects expected to total approximately 1.2 billion square feet (115 million square meters) in 19 countries. Prologis leases modern logistics facilities to a diverse base of approximately 6,700 customers principally across two major categories: business-to-business and retail/online fulfillment.