Critical Analysis: National Health Investors (NYSE:NHI) versus AG Mortgage Investment Trust (NYSE:MITT)

National Health Investors (NYSE:NHI) and AG Mortgage Investment Trust (NYSE:MITT) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, valuation, risk, profitability and institutional ownership.

Risk and Volatility

National Health Investors has a beta of 1.08, meaning that its stock price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AG Mortgage Investment Trust has a beta of 2.05, meaning that its stock price is 105% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

National Health Investors pays an annual dividend of $3.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.9%. AG Mortgage Investment Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.2%. National Health Investors pays out 115.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. AG Mortgage Investment Trust pays out 61.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. AG Mortgage Investment Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for National Health Investors and AG Mortgage Investment Trust, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
National Health Investors	0	2	3	0	2.60
AG Mortgage Investment Trust	0	1	4	0	2.80

National Health Investors currently has a consensus target price of $76.60, suggesting a potential upside of 3.21%. AG Mortgage Investment Trust has a consensus target price of $8.30, suggesting a potential upside of 11.63%. Given AG Mortgage Investment Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe AG Mortgage Investment Trust is more favorable than National Health Investors.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

62.5% of National Health Investors shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 27.3% of AG Mortgage Investment Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 7.3% of National Health Investors shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.2% of AG Mortgage Investment Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares National Health Investors and AG Mortgage Investment Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
National Health Investors	38.53%	10.11%	5.12%
AG Mortgage Investment Trust	20.19%	9.70%	0.46%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares National Health Investors and AG Mortgage Investment Trust”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
National Health Investors	$335.18 million	10.12	$135.65 million	$3.12	23.79
AG Mortgage Investment Trust	$75.32 million	2.93	$53.78 million	$1.23	6.04

National Health Investors has higher revenue and earnings than AG Mortgage Investment Trust. AG Mortgage Investment Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than National Health Investors, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

National Health Investors beats AG Mortgage Investment Trust on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About National Health Investors

Incorporated in 1991, National Health Investors, Inc. (NYSE:NHI) is a real estate investment trust specializing in sale, leasebacks, joint-ventures, senior housing operating partnerships, and mortgage and mezzanine financing of need-driven and discretionary senior housing and medical investments. NHI's portfolio consists of independent living, assisted living and memory care communities, entrance-fee retirement communities, skilled nursing facilities, and specialty hospitals.

About AG Mortgage Investment Trust

AG Mortgage Investment Trust, Inc. operates as a residential mortgage real estate investment trust in the United States. Its investment portfolio includes residential investments, including non-agency loans, agency-eligible loans, re-and non-performing loans, and non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities, as well as commercial loans and commercial mortgage-backed securities. The company qualifies as a real estate investment trust for federal income tax purposes. It generally would not be subject to federal corporate income taxes if it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to its stockholders. AG Mortgage Investment Trust, Inc. was incorporated in 2011 and is based in New York, New York.