Whitestone REIT (NYSE:WSR) & Hudson Pacific Properties (NYSE:HPP) Critical Comparison

Whitestone REIT (NYSE:WSR) and Hudson Pacific Properties (NYSE:HPP) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk and profitability.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Whitestone REIT and Hudson Pacific Properties”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Whitestone REIT	$160.86 million	6.09	$49.93 million	$0.96	19.87
Hudson Pacific Properties	$831.10 million	1.00	-$561.69 million	($10.10)	-1.51

Whitestone REIT has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Hudson Pacific Properties. Hudson Pacific Properties is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Whitestone REIT, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Whitestone REIT and Hudson Pacific Properties’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Whitestone REIT	30.67%	11.12%	4.34%
Hudson Pacific Properties	-67.89%	-19.05%	-7.27%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

69.5% of Whitestone REIT shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.6% of Hudson Pacific Properties shares are held by institutional investors. 3.2% of Whitestone REIT shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.5% of Hudson Pacific Properties shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Whitestone REIT has a beta of 0.78, suggesting that its share price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hudson Pacific Properties has a beta of 1.94, suggesting that its share price is 94% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Whitestone REIT and Hudson Pacific Properties, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Whitestone REIT	0	9	1	0	2.10
Hudson Pacific Properties	2	6	4	1	2.31

Whitestone REIT currently has a consensus target price of $17.50, suggesting a potential downside of 8.26%. Hudson Pacific Properties has a consensus target price of $14.82, suggesting a potential downside of 2.94%. Given Hudson Pacific Properties’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Hudson Pacific Properties is more favorable than Whitestone REIT.

Summary

Whitestone REIT beats Hudson Pacific Properties on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Whitestone REIT

Whitestone REIT (NYSE: WSR) is a community-centered real estate investment trust (REIT) that acquires, owns, operates, and develops open-air, retail centers located in some of the fastest growing markets in the country: Phoenix, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio. Our centers are convenience focused: merchandised with a mix of service-oriented tenants providing food (restaurants and grocers), self-care (health and fitness), services (financial and logistics), education and entertainment to the surrounding communities. The Company believes its strong community connections and deep tenant relationships are key to the success of its current centers and its acquisition strategy.

About Hudson Pacific Properties

Hudson Pacific Properties (NYSE: HPP) is a real estate investment trust serving dynamic tech and media tenants in global epicenters for these synergistic, converging and secular growth industries. Hudson Pacific's unique and high-barrier tech and media focus leverages a full-service, end-to-end value creation platform forged through deep strategic relationships and niche expertise across identifying, acquiring, transforming and developing properties into world-class amenitized, collaborative and sustainable office and studio space.