Critical Review: One Liberty Properties (NYSE:OLP) versus JBG SMITH Properties (NYSE:JBGS)

One Liberty Properties (NYSE:OLP) and JBG SMITH Properties (NYSE:JBGS) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings and risk.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

36.2% of One Liberty Properties shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.5% of JBG SMITH Properties shares are owned by institutional investors. 25.4% of One Liberty Properties shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.4% of JBG SMITH Properties shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for One Liberty Properties and JBG SMITH Properties, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
One Liberty Properties	1	0	0	0	1.00
JBG SMITH Properties	2	0	0	0	1.00

JBG SMITH Properties has a consensus target price of $18.50, suggesting a potential upside of 0.19%. Given JBG SMITH Properties’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe JBG SMITH Properties is more favorable than One Liberty Properties.

Dividends

One Liberty Properties pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.7%. JBG SMITH Properties pays an annual dividend of $0.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. One Liberty Properties pays out 116.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. JBG SMITH Properties pays out -34.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares One Liberty Properties and JBG SMITH Properties”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
One Liberty Properties	$90.56 million	4.92	$30.42 million	$1.54	13.37
JBG SMITH Properties	$547.31 million	2.00	-$143.53 million	($2.05)	-9.01

One Liberty Properties has higher earnings, but lower revenue than JBG SMITH Properties. JBG SMITH Properties is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than One Liberty Properties, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares One Liberty Properties and JBG SMITH Properties’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
One Liberty Properties	34.87%	10.99%	4.23%
JBG SMITH Properties	-30.57%	-10.41%	-3.28%

Risk & Volatility

One Liberty Properties has a beta of 1, meaning that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, JBG SMITH Properties has a beta of 1.15, meaning that its share price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

One Liberty Properties beats JBG SMITH Properties on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About One Liberty Properties

One Liberty Properties, Inc. is a real estate investment trust, which engages in acquisition, ownership, and management of the geographically diversified portfolio consisting primarily of industrial, retail, restaurant, health and fitness, and theater properties, many of which are subject to long-term leases. The properties in the firm’s portfolio include net leases, long-term lease, and scheduled rent increases. The company was founded in December 1982 and is headquartered in Great Neck, NY.

About JBG SMITH Properties

JBG SMITH Properties is a real estate investment trust, which engages in owning, operating, investing in, and developing a portfolio of mixed-use properties. It operates through the following segments: Multifamily, Commercial, and Other. The Multifamily segment refers to the commercial buildings with public areas, retail spaces, and walkable streets. The Commercial segment rents to federal government tenants. The Other segment relates to development assets, corporate entities, land assets for which are the ground lessor and the elimination of inter-segment activity. The company was founded on October 27, 2016, and is headquartered in Bethesda, MD.