LXP Industrial Trust (NYSE:LXP) vs. Independence Realty Trust (NYSE:IRT) Critical Analysis

Independence Realty Trust (NYSE:IRT) and LXP Industrial Trust (NYSE:LXP) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Independence Realty Trust and LXP Industrial Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Independence Realty Trust	0	3	6	0	2.67
LXP Industrial Trust	0	3	4	0	2.57

Independence Realty Trust currently has a consensus price target of $21.56, suggesting a potential upside of 30.48%. LXP Industrial Trust has a consensus price target of $54.00, suggesting a potential upside of 11.02%. Given Independence Realty Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Independence Realty Trust is more favorable than LXP Industrial Trust.

Profitability

This table compares Independence Realty Trust and LXP Industrial Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Independence Realty Trust	3.42%	0.62%	0.37%
LXP Industrial Trust	32.19%	5.86%	3.12%

Risk & Volatility

Independence Realty Trust has a beta of 1.01, suggesting that its stock price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LXP Industrial Trust has a beta of 1.11, suggesting that its stock price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Independence Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. LXP Industrial Trust pays an annual dividend of $2.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.6%. Independence Realty Trust pays out 680.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. LXP Industrial Trust pays out 142.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Independence Realty Trust has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years and LXP Industrial Trust has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years. LXP Industrial Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

88.3% of Independence Realty Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.5% of LXP Industrial Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Independence Realty Trust shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.6% of LXP Industrial Trust shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Independence Realty Trust and LXP Industrial Trust”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Independence Realty Trust	$640.03 million	6.17	$39.29 million	$0.10	165.25
LXP Industrial Trust	$358.46 million	8.03	$44.53 million	$1.90	25.60

LXP Industrial Trust has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Independence Realty Trust. LXP Industrial Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Independence Realty Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

LXP Industrial Trust beats Independence Realty Trust on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Independence Realty Trust

Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: IRT) is a real estate investment trust that owns and operates multifamily communities, across non-gateway U.S. markets including Atlanta, GA, Dallas, TX, Denver, CO, Columbus, OH, Indianapolis, IN, Raleigh-Durham, NC, Oklahoma City, OK, Nashville, TN, Houston, TX, and Tampa, FL. IRT’s investment strategy is focused on gaining scale near major employment centers within key amenity rich submarkets that offer good school districts and high-quality retail. IRT aims to provide stockholders attractive risk-adjusted returns through diligent portfolio management, strong operational performance, and a consistent return on capital through distributions and capital appreciation.

About LXP Industrial Trust

LXP Industrial Trust (NYSE: LXP) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on single-tenant industrial real estate investments across the United States. LXP seeks to expand its industrial portfolio through acquisitions, build-to-suit transactions, sale-leaseback transactions, development projects and other transactions.