Head to Head Comparison: Four Corners Property Trust (NYSE:FCPT) vs. Piedmont Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM)

Piedmont Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) and Four Corners Property Trust (NYSE:FCPT) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership and risk.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Piedmont Realty Trust and Four Corners Property Trust”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Piedmont Realty Trust	$570.32 million	1.82	-$79.06 million	($0.57)	-14.62
Four Corners Property Trust	$268.07 million	9.33	$100.47 million	$1.09	21.63

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Piedmont Realty Trust and Four Corners Property Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Piedmont Realty Trust	1	3	1	0	2.00
Four Corners Property Trust	0	6	2	0	2.25

Piedmont Realty Trust presently has a consensus target price of $9.00, indicating a potential upside of 7.98%. Four Corners Property Trust has a consensus target price of $28.00, indicating a potential upside of 18.77%. Given Four Corners Property Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Four Corners Property Trust is more favorable than Piedmont Realty Trust.

Risk & Volatility

Piedmont Realty Trust has a beta of 1.26, indicating that its stock price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Four Corners Property Trust has a beta of 0.85, indicating that its stock price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Piedmont Realty Trust and Four Corners Property Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Piedmont Realty Trust	-12.44%	-4.51%	-1.75%
Four Corners Property Trust	38.04%	7.39%	3.98%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

84.5% of Piedmont Realty Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.7% of Four Corners Property Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Piedmont Realty Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of Four Corners Property Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Four Corners Property Trust beats Piedmont Realty Trust on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Piedmont Realty Trust

Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (also referred to herein as "Piedmont" or the "Company") (NYSE: PDM) is an owner, manager, developer, redeveloper and operator of high-quality, Class A office properties located primarily in major U.S. Sunbelt markets. The Company is a fully-integrated, self-managed real estate investment trust ("REIT") with local management offices in each of its markets and is investment-grade rated by Standard & Poor's and Moody's. The Company was designated an Energy Star Partner of the Year for 2021, 2022 and 2023, and it was the only office REIT headquartered in the Southeast to receive those designations. Approximately 85% of the Company's square footage is Energy Star certified and nearly 70% is LEED certified. Piedmont is headquartered in Atlanta, GA.

About Four Corners Property Trust

Four Corners Property Trust, Inc. engages in the owning, acquisition, and leasing of properties for use in the restaurant and food-service related industries. It operates through the Real Estate Operations and Restaurant Operations segments. The Real Estate Operations segment consists of rental revenues generated by leasing restaurant properties. The Restaurant Operations segment includes the Kerrow Restaurant operating business. The company was founded on July 2, 2015 and is headquartered in Mill Valley, CA.