Financial Analysis: Plaza Retail REIT (OTCMKTS:PAZRF) versus Saul Centers (NYSE:BFS)

Plaza Retail REIT (OTCMKTS:PAZRF) and Saul Centers (NYSE:BFS) are both real estate companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Plaza Retail REIT and Saul Centers”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Plaza Retail REIT	N/A	N/A	N/A	$0.65	6.21
Saul Centers	$289.84 million	2.98	$37.51 million	$0.97	36.04

Saul Centers has higher revenue and earnings than Plaza Retail REIT. Plaza Retail REIT is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Saul Centers, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Plaza Retail REIT and Saul Centers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Plaza Retail REIT	0	2	0	0	2.00
Saul Centers	0	1	0	0	2.00

Profitability

This table compares Plaza Retail REIT and Saul Centers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Plaza Retail REIT	N/A	N/A	N/A
Saul Centers	11.54%	11.97%	1.61%

Dividends

Plaza Retail REIT pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.8%. Saul Centers pays an annual dividend of $2.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.8%. Plaza Retail REIT pays out 36.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Saul Centers pays out 243.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

22.2% of Plaza Retail REIT shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 50.0% of Saul Centers shares are held by institutional investors. 51.0% of Saul Centers shares are held by 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

Saul Centers beats Plaza Retail REIT on 9 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Plaza Retail REIT

Plaza is an open-ended real estate investment trust and is a leading retail property owner and developer, focused on Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada. Plaza's portfolio at June 30, 2023 includes interests in 234 properties totaling approximately 8.8 million square feet across Canada and additional lands held for development. Plaza's portfolio largely consists of open-air centres and stand-alone small box retail outlets and is predominantly occupied by national tenants.

About Saul Centers

Saul Centers is a self-managed, self-administered equity REIT headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland. Saul Centers currently operates and manages a real estate portfolio comprised of 61 properties that includes (a) 57 community and neighborhood Shopping Centers and Mixed-Use properties with approximately 9.8 million square feet of leasable area and (b) four land and development properties. Over 85% of the Company’s property operating income is generated from properties in the metropolitan Washington, DC/Baltimore area.