Critical Review: Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust (NASDAQ:WHLRD) versus Brixmor Property Group (NYSE:BRX)

Brixmor Property Group (NYSE:BRX) and Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust (NASDAQ:WHLRD) are both real estate companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Brixmor Property Group and Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Brixmor Property Group	0	3	9	2	2.93
Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust	0	0	0	0	0.00

Brixmor Property Group presently has a consensus target price of $34.33, suggesting a potential upside of 16.01%. Given Brixmor Property Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Brixmor Property Group is more favorable than Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Brixmor Property Group and Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Brixmor Property Group	$1.37 billion	6.62	$386.23 million	$1.40	21.14
Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust	$95.47 million	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Brixmor Property Group has higher revenue and earnings than Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust.

Profitability

This table compares Brixmor Property Group and Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Brixmor Property Group	30.82%	14.38%	4.77%
Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust	N/A	N/A	N/A

Institutional and Insider Ownership

98.4% of Brixmor Property Group shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Brixmor Property Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Brixmor Property Group beats Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust on 10 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Brixmor Property Group

Brixmor Property Group, Inc. operates as a real estate investment trust, which engages in owning and operating a portfolio of grocery anchored community and neighborhood shopping centers. The company was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in New York, NY.

About Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust

Headquartered in Virginia Beach, Virginia, Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust, Inc. is a fully integrated, self-managed commercial real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on owning and operating income-producing retail properties with a primary focus on grocery-anchored centers.