Head-To-Head Analysis: Kilroy Realty (NYSE:KRC) and Highlands REIT (OTCMKTS:HHDS)

Kilroy Realty (NYSE:KRC) and Highlands REIT (OTCMKTS:HHDS) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, valuation, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for Kilroy Realty and Highlands REIT, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kilroy Realty	2	11	2	0	2.00
Highlands REIT	0	0	0	0	0.00

Kilroy Realty presently has a consensus price target of $37.08, indicating a potential upside of 0.65%. Given Kilroy Realty’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Kilroy Realty is more favorable than Highlands REIT.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

94.2% of Kilroy Realty shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of Highlands REIT shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of Kilroy Realty shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.3% of Highlands REIT shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Kilroy Realty and Highlands REIT”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kilroy Realty	$1.11 billion	3.85	$276.12 million	$1.82	20.24
Highlands REIT	$37.41 million	0.37	-$11.10 million	($0.01)	-1.93

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

Profitability

This table compares Kilroy Realty and Highlands REIT’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kilroy Realty	19.59%	3.89%	2.00%
Highlands REIT	-30.49%	-5.91%	-3.53%

Volatility & Risk

Kilroy Realty has a beta of 1.14, indicating that its share price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Highlands REIT has a beta of 17.1, indicating that its share price is 1,610% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Kilroy Realty beats Highlands REIT on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Kilroy Realty

Kilroy Realty Corporation (NYSE: KRC, the company, Kilroy) is a leading U.S. landlord and developer, with operations in San Diego, Greater Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Greater Seattle and Austin. The company has earned global recognition for sustainability, building operations, innovation and design. As a pioneer and innovator in the creation of a more sustainable real estate industry, the company's approach to modern business environments helps drive creativity and productivity for some of the world's leading technology, entertainment, life science and business services companies. The company is a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) and member of the S&P MidCap 400 Index with more than seven decades of experience developing, acquiring and managing office, life science and mixed-use projects. As of December 31, 2023, Kilroy's stabilized portfolio totaled approximately 17.0 million square feet of primarily office and life science space that was 85.0% occupied and 86.4% leased. The company also had approximately 1,000 residential units in Hollywood and San Diego, which had a quarterly average occupancy of 92.5%. In addition, the company had two in-process life science redevelopment projects totaling approximately 100,000 square feet with total estimated redevelopment costs of $80.0 million and one approximately 875,000 square foot in-process development project with a total estimated investment of $1.0 billion.

About Highlands REIT

We are a self-advised and self-administered real estate investment trust (REIT) created to own and manage substantially all of the non-core investment properties previously owned and managed by our former parent, InvenTrust Properties Corp., a Maryland corporation (InvenTrust). On April 28, 2016, we were spun-off from InvenTrust through a pro rata distribution (the Distribution) by InvenTrust of 100% of the outstanding shares of our common stock to holders of InvenTrust's common stock. Prior to or concurrent with the separation, we and InvenTrust engaged in certain reorganization transactions that were designed to consolidate substantially all of InvenTrust's remaining non-core investment properties in Highlands.