Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) vs. SL Green Realty (NYSE:SLG) Critical Analysis

SL Green Realty (NYSE:SLG) and Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) are both mid-cap real estate companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for SL Green Realty and Cousins Properties, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SL Green Realty	2	10	7	0	2.26
Cousins Properties	0	3	6	0	2.67

SL Green Realty currently has a consensus price target of $55.15, suggesting a potential downside of 1.93%. Cousins Properties has a consensus price target of $30.91, suggesting a potential upside of 4.42%. Given Cousins Properties’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Cousins Properties is more favorable than SL Green Realty.

Volatility and Risk

SL Green Realty has a beta of 1.58, meaning that its share price is 58% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cousins Properties has a beta of 1.18, meaning that its share price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

90.0% of SL Green Realty shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.4% of Cousins Properties shares are held by institutional investors. 5.9% of SL Green Realty shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.8% of Cousins Properties shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares SL Green Realty and Cousins Properties’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SL Green Realty	-16.92%	-4.37%	-1.53%
Cousins Properties	0.62%	0.14%	0.07%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares SL Green Realty and Cousins Properties”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
SL Green Realty	$1.00 billion	4.00	-$88.28 million	($2.73)	-20.60
Cousins Properties	$993.82 million	4.90	$40.50 million	$0.04	740.00

Cousins Properties has lower revenue, but higher earnings than SL Green Realty. SL Green Realty is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cousins Properties, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

SL Green Realty pays an annual dividend of $2.47 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. Cousins Properties pays an annual dividend of $1.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. SL Green Realty pays out -90.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Cousins Properties pays out 3,200.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. SL Green Realty has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. SL Green Realty is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Cousins Properties beats SL Green Realty on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About SL Green Realty

3SL Green Realty Corp., Manhattan’s largest office landlord, is a fully integrated real estate investment trust, or REIT, that is focused primarily on acquiring, managing and maximizing value of Manhattan commercial properties. As of June 30, 2022, SL Green held interests in 64 buildings totaling 34.4 million square feet. This included ownership interests in 26.3 million square feet of Manhattan buildings and 7.2 million square feet securing debt and preferred equity investments.

About Cousins Properties

Cousins Properties Incorporated ("Cousins") is a fully integrated, self-administered, and self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT). The Company, based in Atlanta and acting through its operating partnership, Cousins Properties LP, primarily invests in Class A office buildings located in high-growth Sun Belt markets. Founded in 1958, Cousins creates shareholder value through its extensive expertise in the development, acquisition, leasing, and management of high-quality real estate assets. The Company has a comprehensive strategy in place based on a simple platform, trophy assets, and opportunistic investments.