Critical Survey: AG Mortgage Investment Trust (NYSE:MITT) & Lument Finance Trust (NYSE:LFT)

AG Mortgage Investment Trust (NYSE:MITT) and Lument Finance Trust (NYSE:LFT) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and risk.

Profitability

This table compares AG Mortgage Investment Trust and Lument Finance Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AG Mortgage Investment Trust	8.55%	15.59%	0.61%
Lument Finance Trust	-18.00%	0.86%	0.12%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

27.3% of AG Mortgage Investment Trust shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 19.5% of Lument Finance Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 3.3% of AG Mortgage Investment Trust shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.3% of Lument Finance Trust shares are held 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 and Valuation

This table compares AG Mortgage Investment Trust and Lument Finance Trust”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AG Mortgage Investment Trust	$66.52 million	3.24	$48.67 million	$0.74	9.15
Lument Finance Trust	$79.00 million	0.49	-$2.74 million	($0.36)	-2.03

AG Mortgage Investment Trust has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Lument Finance Trust. Lument Finance Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than AG Mortgage Investment Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

AG Mortgage Investment Trust has a beta of 1.65, indicating that its share price is 65% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lument Finance Trust has a beta of 0.56, indicating that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

AG Mortgage Investment Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 14.2%. Lument Finance Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 21.9%. AG Mortgage Investment Trust pays out 129.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Lument Finance Trust pays out -44.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. AG Mortgage Investment Trust has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years and Lument Finance Trust has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Lument Finance Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for AG Mortgage Investment Trust and Lument Finance Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AG Mortgage Investment Trust	0	3	6	0	2.67
Lument Finance Trust	1	0	0	0	1.00

AG Mortgage Investment Trust presently has a consensus price target of $8.93, suggesting a potential upside of 31.90%. Given AG Mortgage Investment Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe AG Mortgage Investment Trust is more favorable than Lument Finance Trust.

Summary

AG Mortgage Investment Trust beats Lument Finance Trust on 13 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About AG Mortgage Investment Trust

AG Mortgage Investment Trust, Inc. operates as a residential mortgage real estate investment trust in the United States. Its investment portfolio includes residential investments, including non-agency loans, agency-eligible loans, re-and non-performing loans, and non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities, as well as commercial loans and commercial mortgage-backed securities. The company qualifies as a real estate investment trust for federal income tax purposes. It generally would not be subject to federal corporate income taxes if it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to its stockholders. AG Mortgage Investment Trust, Inc. was incorporated in 2011 and is based in New York, New York.

About Lument Finance Trust

Lument Finance Trust, Inc., a real estate investment trust, focuses on investing in, financing, and managing a portfolio of commercial real estate (CRE) debt investments in the United States. The company primarily invests in transitional floating rate CRE mortgage loans on middle market multi-family assets; and other CRE -related investments, including mezzanine loans, preferred equity, commercial mortgage-backed securities, fixed rate loans, construction loans, and other CRE debt instruments. Lument Finance Trust, Inc. is qualified as a real estate investment trust (REIT) under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. As a REIT, it would not be subject to federal income taxes if it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to its stockholders. The company was formerly known as Hunt Companies Finance Trust, Inc. and changed its name to Lument Finance Trust, Inc. in December 2020. Lument Finance Trust, Inc. was incorporated in 2012 and is headquartered in New York, New York.