Head to Head Survey: Plymouth Industrial REIT (NYSE:PLYM) & American Assets Trust (NYSE:AAT)

Plymouth Industrial REIT (NYSE:PLYM) and American Assets Trust (NYSE:AAT) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, risk, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Dividends

Plymouth Industrial REIT pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.7%. American Assets Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.34 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.3%. Plymouth Industrial REIT pays out 505.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. American Assets Trust pays out 159.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Plymouth Industrial REIT has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years and American Assets Trust has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years. American Assets Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares Plymouth Industrial REIT and American Assets Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Plymouth Industrial REIT	6.75%	2.84%	0.91%
American Assets Trust	11.42%	4.31%	1.68%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

92.7% of Plymouth Industrial REIT shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.4% of American Assets Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 1.3% of Plymouth Industrial REIT shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 37.3% of American Assets Trust shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Plymouth Industrial REIT and American Assets Trust’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Plymouth Industrial REIT	$199.85 million	4.68	$13.66 million	$0.19	108.53
American Assets Trust	$441.16 million	2.93	$64.69 million	$0.84	25.29

American Assets Trust has higher revenue and earnings than Plymouth Industrial REIT. American Assets Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Plymouth Industrial REIT, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Plymouth Industrial REIT and American Assets Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Plymouth Industrial REIT	1	1	4	0	2.50
American Assets Trust	0	1	0	0	2.00

Plymouth Industrial REIT currently has a consensus target price of $25.00, indicating a potential upside of 21.36%. American Assets Trust has a consensus target price of $22.00, indicating a potential upside of 3.87%. Given Plymouth Industrial REIT’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Plymouth Industrial REIT is more favorable than American Assets Trust.

Risk and Volatility

Plymouth Industrial REIT has a beta of 1.36, suggesting that its share price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Assets Trust has a beta of 1.26, suggesting that its share price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

American Assets Trust beats Plymouth Industrial REIT on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Plymouth Industrial REIT

Plymouth Industrial REIT, Inc. (NYSE: PLYM) is a full service, vertically integrated real estate investment company focused on the acquisition, ownership and management of single and multi-tenant industrial properties. Our mission is to provide tenants with cost effective space that is functional, flexible and safe.

About American Assets Trust

American Assets Trust, Inc. is a full service, vertically integrated and self-administered real estate investment trust ("REIT"), headquartered in San Diego, California. The company has over 55 years of experience in acquiring, improving, developing and managing premier office, retail, and residential properties throughout the United States in some of the nation's most dynamic, high-barrier-to-entry markets primarily in Southern California, Northern California, Washington, Oregon, Texas and Hawaii. The company's office portfolio comprises approximately 4.1 million rentable square feet, and its retail portfolio comprises approximately 3.1 million rentable square feet. In addition, the company owns one mixed-use property (including approximately 94,000 rentable square feet of retail space and a 369-room all-suite hotel) and 2,110 multifamily units. In 2011, the company was formed to succeed to the real estate business of American Assets, Inc., a privately held corporation founded in 1967 and, as such, has significant experience, long-standing relationships and extensive knowledge of its core markets, submarkets and asset classes.