Comparing Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT) & Omega Healthcare Investors (NYSE:OHI)

Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT) and Omega Healthcare Investors (NYSE:OHI) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, profitability, dividends, risk, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

87.5% of Uniti Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 65.3% of Omega Healthcare Investors shares are held by institutional investors. 2.7% of Uniti Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of Omega Healthcare Investors shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Uniti Group and Omega Healthcare Investors”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Uniti Group	$2.93 billion	0.92	$1.30 billion	$3.35	3.30
Omega Healthcare Investors	$1.19 billion	12.06	$572.03 million	$2.07	23.29

Uniti Group has higher revenue and earnings than Omega Healthcare Investors. Uniti Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Omega Healthcare Investors, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Uniti Group and Omega Healthcare Investors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Uniti Group	39.61%	-2.52%	-3.44%
Omega Healthcare Investors	51.14%	11.86%	6.10%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Uniti Group and Omega Healthcare Investors, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Uniti Group	0	7	1	1	2.33
Omega Healthcare Investors	1	8	5	0	2.29

Uniti Group currently has a consensus target price of $10.92, indicating a potential downside of 1.39%. Omega Healthcare Investors has a consensus target price of $48.31, indicating a potential upside of 0.20%. Given Omega Healthcare Investors’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Omega Healthcare Investors is more favorable than Uniti Group.

Volatility and Risk

Uniti Group has a beta of 1.4, meaning that its share price is 40% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Omega Healthcare Investors has a beta of 0.58, meaning that its share price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Uniti Group pays an annual dividend of $0.45 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Omega Healthcare Investors pays an annual dividend of $2.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.6%. Uniti Group pays out 13.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Omega Healthcare Investors pays out 129.5% 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

Uniti Group beats Omega Healthcare Investors on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Uniti Group

Uniti Group, Inc. is a real estate investment trust company, which engages in the acquisition, construction, and leasing of properties. It operates through the following business segments: Uniti Leasing, Uniti Fiber, and Corporate. The Uniti Leasing segment involves mission-critical communications assets on exclusive or shared-tenant basis, and dark fiber network. The Uniti Fiber segment includes the operation of infrastructure solutions, cell site backhauls, and dark fiber. The Corporate segment consists of office and shared service functions. The company was founded in February 2014 and is headquartered in Little Rock, AR.

About Omega Healthcare Investors

Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc. engages in the provision of financing and capital to the long-term healthcare industry with a particular focus on skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, independent living facilities, rehabilitation and acute care facilities, and medical office buildings. The company was founded on March 31, 1992 and is headquartered in Hunt Valley, MD.