Critical Analysis: Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) vs. Presidio Property Trust (NASDAQ:SQFT)

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) and Presidio Property Trust (NASDAQ:SQFT) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability and risk.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Lamar Advertising and Presidio Property Trust”s 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	6.44	$495.76 million	$4.87	27.96
Presidio Property Trust	$18.35 million	0.55	$10.15 million	($0.51)	-1.37

Lamar Advertising has higher revenue and earnings than Presidio Property Trust. Presidio Property Trust 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 breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Lamar Advertising and Presidio Property Trust, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lamar Advertising	0	4	1	0	2.20
Presidio Property Trust	0	0	0	0	N/A

Lamar Advertising currently has a consensus price target of $125.00, suggesting a potential downside of 8.19%. Given Lamar Advertising’s higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Lamar Advertising is more favorable than Presidio Property Trust.

Risk & Volatility

Lamar Advertising has a beta of 1.52, indicating that its share price is 52% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Presidio Property Trust has a beta of 1.57, indicating that its share price is 57% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Lamar Advertising pays an annual dividend of $5.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Presidio Property Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.02 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. 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. Presidio Property Trust pays out -3.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Presidio Property Trust has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Lamar Advertising and Presidio Property Trust’s 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%
Presidio Property Trust	-28.19%	-24.25%	-8.34%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

93.8% of Lamar Advertising shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 38.9% of Presidio Property Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 15.0% of Lamar Advertising shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 18.7% of Presidio Property Trust shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Lamar Advertising beats Presidio Property Trust on 12 of the 16 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 Presidio Property Trust

Presidio Property Trust, Inc. (we, our, us or the Company) is an internally-managed real estate investment trust (REIT), with holdings in office, industrial, retail and model home properties. We were incorporated in the State of California on September 28, 1999, and in August 2010, we reincorporated as a Maryland corporation. In October 2017, we changed our name from NetREIT, Inc., to Presidio Property Trust, Inc. Through Presidio Property Trust, Inc., its subsidiaries, and its partnerships, we own 12 commercial properties in fee interest, two of which we own as a partial interest in various affiliates, in which we serve as general partner, member and/or manager, and a special purpose acquisition company (until deconsolidation in September 2023). The Company has determined that the limited partnerships in which it owns less than 100% should be included in the Company’s consolidated financial statements as the Company directs their activities and has control of such limited partnerships.