Comparing Global Medical REIT (NYSE:XRN) & Medalist Diversified REIT (NASDAQ:MDRR)

Global Medical REIT (NYSE:XRN) and Medalist Diversified REIT (NASDAQ:MDRR) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Global Medical REIT and Medalist Diversified REIT, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Global Medical REIT	1	3	2	1	2.43
Medalist Diversified REIT	1	0	0	0	1.00

Global Medical REIT currently has a consensus price target of $40.00, suggesting a potential upside of 11.78%. Given Global Medical REIT’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Global Medical REIT is more favorable than Medalist Diversified REIT.

Dividends

Global Medical REIT pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.4%. Medalist Diversified REIT pays an annual dividend of $0.27 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Global Medical REIT pays out -173.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Medalist Diversified REIT pays out 7.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Medalist Diversified REIT has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Global Medical REIT is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Global Medical REIT and Medalist Diversified REIT”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Global Medical REIT	$151.11 million	3.13	-$5.84 million	($1.11)	-32.24
Medalist Diversified REIT	$10.40 million	1.80	-$2.39 million	$3.75	3.05

Medalist Diversified REIT has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Global Medical REIT. Global Medical REIT is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Medalist Diversified REIT, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Global Medical REIT has a beta of 1.11, suggesting that its stock price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Medalist Diversified REIT has a beta of 0.58, suggesting that its stock price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Global Medical REIT and Medalist Diversified REIT’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Global Medical REIT	-6.06%	-2.19%	-0.73%
Medalist Diversified REIT	74.73%	-16.90%	-6.11%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

57.5% of Global Medical REIT shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 17.4% of Medalist Diversified REIT shares are held by institutional investors. 8.9% of Global Medical REIT shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 77.6% of Medalist Diversified REIT shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Global Medical REIT beats Medalist Diversified REIT on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Global Medical REIT

Global Medical REIT Inc. (GMRE) is a net-lease medical office real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns and acquires healthcare facilities and leases those facilities to physician groups and regional and national healthcare systems.

About Medalist Diversified REIT

Medalist Diversified REIT Inc. is a Virginia-based real estate investment trust that specializes in acquiring, owning and managing commercial real estate in the Southeast region of the U.S. The Company's strategy is to focus on commercial real estate which is expected to provide an attractive balance of risk and returns. Medalist utilizes a rigorous, consistent and replicable process for sourcing and conducting due diligence of acquisitions.