Critical Review: Link Real Estate Investment Trust (OTCMKTS:LKREF) & Acadia Realty Trust (NYSE:AKR)

Link Real Estate Investment Trust (OTCMKTS:LKREF) and Acadia Realty Trust (NYSE:AKR) are both real estate companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership and dividends.

Dividends

Link Real Estate Investment Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.66 per share and has a dividend yield of 33.5%. Acadia Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Link Real Estate Investment Trust pays out 14.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Acadia Realty Trust pays out 235.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Acadia Realty Trust has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Link Real Estate Investment Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Link Real Estate Investment Trust and Acadia Realty Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Link Real Estate Investment Trust	N/A	N/A	N/A
Acadia Realty Trust	12.14%	1.85%	1.04%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Link Real Estate Investment Trust and Acadia Realty Trust”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Link Real Estate Investment Trust	N/A	N/A	N/A	$11.79	0.42
Acadia Realty Trust	$410.76 million	6.96	$16.90 million	$0.34	61.22

Acadia Realty Trust has higher revenue and earnings than Link Real Estate Investment Trust. Link Real Estate Investment Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Acadia Realty Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

39.5% of Link Real Estate Investment Trust shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.7% of Acadia Realty Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 3.1% of Acadia Realty Trust shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Link Real Estate Investment Trust and Acadia Realty Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Link Real Estate Investment Trust	0	0	0	0	0.00
Acadia Realty Trust	0	3	4	1	2.75

Acadia Realty Trust has a consensus price target of $24.00, suggesting a potential upside of 15.31%. Given Acadia Realty Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Acadia Realty Trust is more favorable than Link Real Estate Investment Trust.

Summary

Acadia Realty Trust beats Link Real Estate Investment Trust on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Link Real Estate Investment Trust

Link Real Estate Investment Trust, managed by Link Asset Management Limited, is the largest REIT in Asia, and a leading real estate investor and asset manager in the world. Listed in 2005 as the first REIT in Hong Kong, Link has been 100% held by public and institutional investors, and has no controlling unitholder. We invest and manage a diversified portfolio comprising retail facilities, car parks, offices and logistics centres. With our home in Hong Kong, our properties located in China's Beijing, Greater Bay Area (Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Shenzhen), and Yangtze River Delta centred around Shanghai, the UK's London and Australia's Sydney and Melbourne. We seek to extend our portfolio growth trajectory and grasp expansion opportunities in different markets in pursuit of being a world class real estate investor and manager. Asset management, portfolio management and capital management are three pillars of our management. We are committed to integrating Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations into our strategy and daily operations.

About Acadia Realty Trust

Acadia Realty Trust is an equity real estate investment trust focused on delivering long-term, profitable growth via its dual Core Portfolio and Fund operating platforms and its disciplined, location-driven investment strategy. Acadia Realty Trust is accomplishing this goal by building a best-in-class core real estate portfolio with meaningful concentrations of assets in the nation's most dynamic corridors; making profitable opportunistic and value-add investments through its series of discretionary, institutional funds; and maintaining a strong balance sheet.