Critical Analysis: Community Healthcare Trust (NYSE:CHCT) versus Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST)

Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) and Community Healthcare Trust (NYSE:CHCT) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Host Hotels & Resorts and Community Healthcare Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Host Hotels & Resorts	12.43%	11.11%	5.68%
Community Healthcare Trust	-6.27%	-1.66%	-0.76%

Volatility and Risk

Host Hotels & Resorts has a beta of 1.17, suggesting that its stock price is 17% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Community Healthcare Trust has a beta of 0.75, suggesting that its stock price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

98.5% of Host Hotels & Resorts shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.8% of Community Healthcare Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 1.4% of Host Hotels & Resorts shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.1% of Community Healthcare Trust shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Host Hotels & Resorts pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Community Healthcare Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.90 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.6%. Host Hotels & Resorts pays out 76.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Community Healthcare Trust pays out -475.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Host Hotels & Resorts has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years and Community Healthcare Trust has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years. Community Healthcare Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations for Host Hotels & Resorts and Community Healthcare Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Host Hotels & Resorts	0	7	7	1	2.60
Community Healthcare Trust	1	1	2	0	2.25

Host Hotels & Resorts presently has a consensus target price of $19.32, suggesting a potential downside of 1.12%. Community Healthcare Trust has a consensus target price of $18.50, suggesting a potential upside of 3.12%. Given Community Healthcare Trust’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Community Healthcare Trust is more favorable than Host Hotels & Resorts.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Host Hotels & Resorts and Community Healthcare Trust”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Host Hotels & Resorts	$5.68 billion	2.36	$697.00 million	$1.05	18.61
Community Healthcare Trust	$115.79 million	4.41	-$3.18 million	($0.40)	-44.85

Host Hotels & Resorts has higher revenue and earnings than Community Healthcare Trust. Community Healthcare Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Host Hotels & Resorts, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Host Hotels & Resorts beats Community Healthcare Trust on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Host Hotels & Resorts

Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. is a real estate investment trust, which engages in the management of luxury and upper-upscale hotels. It operates through the following geographical segments: United States, Brazil, and Canada. The company was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in Bethesda, MD.

About Community Healthcare Trust

Community Healthcare Trust Incorporated (the Company”, we”, our”) was organized in the State of Maryland on March 28, 2014. The Company is a fully-integrated healthcare real estate company that owns and acquires real estate properties that are leased to hospitals, doctors, healthcare systems or other healthcare service providers. As of March 31, 2024, the Company had investments of approximately $1.1 billion in 197 real estate properties (including a portion of one property accounted for as a sales-type lease with a gross amount totaling approximately $3.0 million and two properties classified as an asset held for sale with an aggregate amount totaling approximately $7.5 million. The properties are located in 35 states, totaling approximately 4.4 million square feet in the aggregate and were approximately 92.3% leased, excluding real estate assets held for sale, at March 31, 2024 with a weighted average remaining lease term of approximately 6.9 years.