Reviewing Empire State Realty Trust (NYSE:ESRT) & Prologis (NYSE:PLD)

Empire State Realty Trust (NYSE:ESRT) and Prologis (NYSE:PLD) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, risk, dividends, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Dividends

Empire State Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.14 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Prologis pays an annual dividend of $4.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Empire State Realty Trust pays out 53.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Prologis pays out 107.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Prologis has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years. Prologis is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Empire State Realty Trust and Prologis”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Empire State Realty Trust	$776.71 million	1.27	$47.60 million	$0.26	22.06
Prologis	$8.79 billion	14.75	$3.33 billion	$3.97	35.03

Prologis has higher revenue and earnings than Empire State Realty Trust. Empire State Realty Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Prologis, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Empire State Realty Trust and Prologis’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Empire State Realty Trust	5.09%	2.19%	0.93%
Prologis	41.54%	6.47%	3.78%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

67.1% of Empire State Realty Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.5% of Prologis shares are owned by institutional investors. 15.2% of Empire State Realty Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Prologis shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Empire State Realty Trust has a beta of 1.35, indicating that its stock price is 35% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Prologis has a beta of 1.32, indicating that its stock price is 32% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Empire State Realty Trust and Prologis, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Empire State Realty Trust	2	1	0	0	1.33
Prologis	0	6	16	0	2.73

Empire State Realty Trust currently has a consensus price target of $6.25, indicating a potential upside of 8.98%. Prologis has a consensus price target of $151.86, indicating a potential upside of 9.20%. Given Prologis’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Prologis is more favorable than Empire State Realty Trust.

Summary

Prologis beats Empire State Realty Trust on 14 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Empire State Realty Trust

Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: ESRT) is a NYC-focused REIT that owns and operates a portfolio of modernized, amenitized, and well-located office, retail, and multifamily assets. The company is the recognized leader in energy efficiency and indoor environmental quality. ESRT’s flagship Empire State Building – the “World’s Most Famous Building” – includes its Observatory, Tripadvisor’s 2023 Travelers’ Choice Awards: Best of the Best the #1 attraction in the US for two consecutive years. As of September 30, 2023, ESRT’s portfolio is comprised of approximately 8.6 million rentable square feet of office space, 0.7 million rentable square feet of retail space and 727 residential units across three multifamily properties.

About Prologis

Prologis, Inc. is the global leader in logistics real estate with a focus on high-barrier, high-growth markets. At March 31, 2024, the company owned or had investments in, on a wholly owned basis or through co-investment ventures, properties and development projects expected to total approximately 1.2 billion square feet (115 million square meters) in 19 countries. Prologis leases modern logistics facilities to a diverse base of approximately 6,700 customers principally across two major categories: business-to-business and retail/online fulfillment.