Reviewing Claros Mortgage Trust (NYSE:CMTG) & Sunrise Realty Trust (NASDAQ:SUNS)

Claros Mortgage Trust (NYSE:CMTG) and Sunrise Realty Trust (NASDAQ:SUNS) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, risk, institutional ownership, profitability and dividends.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

89.5% of Claros Mortgage Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 2.6% of Claros Mortgage Trust shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 28.5% of Sunrise Realty Trust shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Claros Mortgage Trust and Sunrise Realty Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Claros Mortgage Trust	-354.13%	-19.70%	-6.52%
Sunrise Realty Trust	53.33%	8.25%	4.90%

Risk & Volatility

Claros Mortgage Trust has a beta of 1.16, meaning that its stock price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sunrise Realty Trust has a beta of 1.02, meaning that its stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Claros Mortgage Trust and Sunrise Realty Trust”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Claros Mortgage Trust	$187.83 million	1.33	-$489.07 million	($3.83)	-0.46
Sunrise Realty Trust	$21.57 million	4.78	$12.14 million	$0.97	7.86

Sunrise Realty Trust has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Claros Mortgage Trust. Claros Mortgage Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Sunrise Realty Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Claros Mortgage Trust and Sunrise Realty Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Claros Mortgage Trust	3	1	0	0	1.25
Sunrise Realty Trust	1	2	0	0	1.67

Claros Mortgage Trust currently has a consensus price target of $2.22, suggesting a potential upside of 24.88%. Sunrise Realty Trust has a consensus price target of $8.00, suggesting a potential upside of 4.99%. Given Claros Mortgage Trust’s higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Claros Mortgage Trust is more favorable than Sunrise Realty Trust.

Summary

Sunrise Realty Trust beats Claros Mortgage Trust on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Claros Mortgage Trust

Claros Mortgage Trust, Inc. operates as a real estate investment trust. It focuses on originating senior and subordinate loans on transitional commercial real estate assets in the United States. The company has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust. As a result, it would not be subject to corporate income tax on that portion of its net income that is distributed to shareholders. The company was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Sunrise Realty Trust

Sunrise Realty Trust, Inc. engages in commercial real estate (CRE) lending business. It focuses on originating CRE debt investments and providing capital to borrowers and sponsors with transitional business plans collateralized by CRE assets. The company intends to create a diversified investment portfolio, targeting investments in senior mortgage loans, mezzanine loans, whole loans, B-notes, CMBS, and debt-like preferred equity securities across CRE asset classes. Sunrise Realty Trust, Inc. was incorporated in 2023 and is based in West Palm Beach, Florida.