Head to Head Comparison: Orion Office REIT (NYSE:ONL) and COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP)

Orion Office REIT (NYSE:ONL) and COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings and institutional ownership.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

79.9% of Orion Office REIT shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.6% of Orion Office REIT shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.7% of COPT Defense Properties shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Orion Office REIT and COPT Defense Properties”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Orion Office REIT	$145.92 million	1.13	-$139.31 million	($2.56)	-1.13
COPT Defense Properties	$763.92 million	5.41	$152.32 million	$1.38	26.42

COPT Defense Properties has higher revenue and earnings than Orion Office REIT. Orion Office REIT is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than COPT Defense Properties, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk and Volatility

Orion Office REIT has a beta of 1.57, suggesting that its stock price is 57% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, COPT Defense Properties has a beta of 0.79, suggesting that its stock price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Orion Office REIT and COPT Defense Properties’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Orion Office REIT	-98.36%	-21.88%	-11.79%
COPT Defense Properties	20.10%	10.02%	3.51%

Dividends

Orion Office REIT pays an annual dividend of $0.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. COPT Defense Properties pays an annual dividend of $1.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Orion Office REIT pays out -3.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. COPT Defense Properties pays out 92.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Orion Office REIT and COPT Defense Properties, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Orion Office REIT	1	0	1	0	2.00
COPT Defense Properties	0	3	5	0	2.63

Orion Office REIT currently has a consensus price target of $3.50, indicating a potential upside of 20.90%. COPT Defense Properties has a consensus price target of $35.00, indicating a potential downside of 3.99%. Given Orion Office REIT’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Orion Office REIT is more favorable than COPT Defense Properties.

Summary

COPT Defense Properties beats Orion Office REIT on 12 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Orion Office REIT

Orion Office REIT specializes in the ownership, acquisition and management of a diversified portfolio of mission-critical and corporate headquarters office buildings in high-quality suburban markets across the U.S. The portfolio is leased primarily on a single-tenant net lease basis to creditworthy tenants. The company's team of experienced industry leaders employs a proven, cycle-tested investment evaluation framework which serves as the lens through which capital allocation decisions are made for the current portfolio and future acquisitions.

About COPT Defense Properties

COPT Defense Properties is a real estate investment trust. It acquires, develops, manages, sells, and leases out office properties and data centers. The firm operates through the following segments: Defense/Information Technology Locations, Regional Office, Wholesale Data Center, and Other. The company was founded on January 22,1988 and is headquartered in Columbia, MD.