Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) & Sabra Healthcare REIT (NASDAQ:SBRA) Financial Review

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) and Sabra Healthcare REIT (NASDAQ:SBRA) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation and risk.

Volatility & Risk

Highwoods Properties has a beta of 1.08, suggesting that its stock price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sabra Healthcare REIT has a beta of 0.67, suggesting that its stock price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Highwoods Properties and Sabra Healthcare REIT’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Highwoods Properties	11.64%	3.97%	1.52%
Sabra Healthcare REIT	19.22%	5.60%	2.84%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Highwoods Properties and Sabra Healthcare REIT, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Highwoods Properties	0	6	2	0	2.25
Sabra Healthcare REIT	0	5	5	0	2.50

Highwoods Properties currently has a consensus price target of $27.78, suggesting a potential upside of 8.22%. Sabra Healthcare REIT has a consensus price target of $22.30, suggesting a potential upside of 7.63%. Given Highwoods Properties’ higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Highwoods Properties is more favorable than Sabra Healthcare REIT.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Highwoods Properties and Sabra Healthcare REIT”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Highwoods Properties	$806.11 million	3.51	$159.61 million	$0.84	30.56
Sabra Healthcare REIT	$774.63 million	6.75	$155.61 million	$0.63	32.89

Highwoods Properties has higher revenue and earnings than Sabra Healthcare REIT. Highwoods Properties is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Sabra Healthcare REIT, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

96.3% of Highwoods Properties shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.4% of Sabra Healthcare REIT shares are held by institutional investors. 1.3% of Highwoods Properties shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Sabra Healthcare REIT shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Highwoods Properties pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.8%. Sabra Healthcare REIT pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.8%. Highwoods Properties pays out 238.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Sabra Healthcare REIT pays out 190.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Summary

Sabra Healthcare REIT beats Highwoods Properties on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Highwoods Properties

Highwoods Properties, Inc., headquartered in Raleigh, is a publicly-traded (NYSE:HIW), fully-integrated office real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, develops, acquires, leases and manages properties primarily in the best business districts (BBDs) of Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Nashville, Orlando, Raleigh, Richmond and Tampa. Highwoods is in the work-placemaking business. We believe that by creating environments and experiences where the best and brightest can achieve together what they cannot apart, we can deliver greater value to our customers, their teammates and, in turn, our stakeholders.

About Sabra Healthcare REIT

Sabra Health Care REIT, Inc. engages in the business of acquiring, financing, and owning real estate property. The company was founded on May 10, 2010 and is headquartered in Tustin, CA.