Gladstone Land (LAND) & Its Competitors Critical Contrast

Gladstone Land (NASDAQ:LAND) is one of 35 publicly-traded companies in the “Specialized REITs” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare Gladstone Land to related companies based on the strength of its dividends, earnings, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability and institutional ownership.

Dividends

Gladstone Land pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.1%. Gladstone Land pays out -160.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Specialized REITs” companies pay a dividend yield of 3.3% and pay out 119.5% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Gladstone Land has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Gladstone Land is clearly a better dividend stock than its competitors, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

53.6% of Gladstone Land shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.0% of shares of all “Specialized REITs” companies are owned by institutional investors. 6.1% of Gladstone Land shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.5% of shares of all “Specialized REITs” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Gladstone Land and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Gladstone Land	$88.34 million	$13.53 million	-19.66
Gladstone Land Competitors	$2.59 billion	$596.00 million	31.74

Gladstone Land’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Gladstone Land. Gladstone Land is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Risk & Volatility

Gladstone Land has a beta of 1.17, meaning that its stock price is 17% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Gladstone Land’s competitors have a beta of 0.92, meaning that their average stock price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Gladstone Land and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Gladstone Land	2.42%	0.37%	0.21%
Gladstone Land Competitors	-4.53%	-3.15%	2.03%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Gladstone Land and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Gladstone Land	1	1	0	1	2.33
Gladstone Land Competitors	523	2791	3673	191	2.49

As a group, “Specialized REITs” companies have a potential upside of 12.65%. Given Gladstone Land’s competitors stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Gladstone Land has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Summary

Gladstone Land competitors beat Gladstone Land on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

Gladstone Land Company Profile

Gladstone Land Corporation is a real estate investment trust focused on owning and leasing U.S. farmland. Its portfolio includes farms used to grow fresh produce and permanent crops, such as fruits and nuts, as well as land devoted to traditional row crops. The company generally leases its properties to farmers under long-term agreements. Its farms are located across multiple agricultural regions of the United States, and its portfolio may include related assets such as irrigation and water rights.