Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance (NASDAQ:REFI) and Sunrise Realty Trust (NASDAQ:SUNS) Financial Survey

Sunrise Realty Trust (NASDAQ:SUNS) and Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance (NASDAQ:REFI) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, earnings and valuation.

Volatility & Risk

Sunrise Realty Trust has a beta of 1.02, indicating that its stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance has a beta of 0.24, indicating that its stock price is 76% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Sunrise Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 16.0%. Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance pays an annual dividend of $1.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 18.0%. Sunrise Realty Trust pays out 123.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance pays out 137.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Sunrise Realty Trust and Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sunrise Realty Trust	$33.50 million	3.03	$12.14 million	$0.97	7.74
Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance	$53.45 million	4.15	$36.01 million	$1.37	7.63

Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance has higher revenue and earnings than Sunrise Realty Trust. Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Sunrise Realty Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Sunrise Realty Trust and Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sunrise Realty Trust	1	2	0	0	1.67
Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance	0	3	2	0	2.40

Sunrise Realty Trust presently has a consensus target price of $8.00, suggesting a potential upside of 6.52%. Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance has a consensus target price of $15.33, suggesting a potential upside of 46.73%. Given Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance is more favorable than Sunrise Realty Trust.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

25.5% of Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance shares are held by institutional investors. 28.5% of Sunrise Realty Trust shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 6.5% of Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Sunrise Realty Trust and Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sunrise Realty Trust	53.33%	8.24%	5.03%
Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance	55.54%	11.98%	8.46%

Summary

Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance beats Sunrise Realty Trust on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sunrise Realty Trust

Sunrise Realty Trust, Inc. engages in commercial real estate (CRE) lending business. It focuses on originating CRE debt investments and providing capital to borrowers and sponsors with transitional business plans collateralized by CRE assets. The company intends to create a diversified investment portfolio, targeting investments in senior mortgage loans, mezzanine loans, whole loans, B-notes, CMBS, and debt-like preferred equity securities across CRE asset classes. Sunrise Realty Trust, Inc. was incorporated in 2023 and is based in West Palm Beach, Florida.

About Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance

Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance, Inc. operates as a commercial real estate finance company in the United States. The company engages in originating, structuring, and investing in first mortgage loans and alternative structured financings secured by commercial real estate properties. Its portfolio primarily includes offers senior loans to state-licensed operators in the cannabis industry. The company has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust (REIT) and would not be subject to federal corporate income taxes if it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to its stockholders. Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance, Inc. was incorporated in 2021 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.