Analyzing AG Mortgage Investment Trust (NYSE:MITT) & Transcontinental Realty Investors (NYSE:TCI)

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

Volatility and Risk

Transcontinental Realty Investors has a beta of 0.52, suggesting that its stock price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AG Mortgage Investment Trust has a beta of 2.05, suggesting that its stock price is 105% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Transcontinental Realty Investors	6.55%	0.38%	0.30%
AG Mortgage Investment Trust	20.19%	9.70%	0.46%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

27.3% of AG Mortgage Investment Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 86.2% of Transcontinental Realty Investors shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.2% of AG Mortgage Investment Trust shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Transcontinental Realty Investors and AG Mortgage Investment Trust, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Transcontinental Realty Investors	0	0	0	0	0.00
AG Mortgage Investment Trust	0	1	4	0	2.80

AG Mortgage Investment Trust has a consensus target price of $8.30, indicating a potential upside of 8.28%. Given AG Mortgage Investment Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe AG Mortgage Investment Trust is more favorable than Transcontinental Realty Investors.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Transcontinental Realty Investors and AG Mortgage Investment Trust”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Transcontinental Realty Investors	$44.76 million	5.40	$5.94 million	$0.68	41.11
AG Mortgage Investment Trust	$75.32 million	3.02	$53.78 million	$1.23	6.23

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

Summary

AG Mortgage Investment Trust beats Transcontinental Realty Investors on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Transcontinental Realty Investors

Transcontinental Realty Investors, Inc., a Dallas-based real estate investment company, holds a diverse portfolio of equity real estate located across the U.S., including office buildings, apartments, shopping centers, and developed and undeveloped land. The Company invests in real estate through direct ownership, leases and partnerships and invests in mortgage loans on real estate. The Company also holds mortgage receivables.

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.