United Development Funding IV (OTCMKTS:UDFI) & W.P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) Financial Comparison

W.P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) and United Development Funding IV (OTCMKTS:UDFI) are both real estate companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares W.P. Carey and United Development Funding IV”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
W.P. Carey	$1.72 billion	9.48	$466.36 million	$2.93	24.37
United Development Funding IV	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

W.P. Carey has higher revenue and earnings than United Development Funding IV.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for W.P. Carey and United Development Funding IV, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
W.P. Carey	1	6	7	0	2.43
United Development Funding IV	0	0	0	0	0.00

W.P. Carey presently has a consensus target price of $79.38, suggesting a potential upside of 11.17%. Given W.P. Carey’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe W.P. Carey is more favorable than United Development Funding IV.

Profitability

This table compares W.P. Carey and United Development Funding IV’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
W.P. Carey	36.34%	7.81%	3.58%
United Development Funding IV	N/A	N/A	N/A

Institutional and Insider Ownership

73.7% of W.P. Carey shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of W.P. Carey shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of United Development Funding IV shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

W.P. Carey beats United Development Funding IV on 9 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About W.P. Carey

W. P. Carey ranks among the largest net lease REITs with a well-diversified portfolio of high-quality, operationally critical commercial real estate, which includes 1,424 net lease properties covering approximately 173 million square feet and a portfolio of 89 self-storage operating properties as of December 31, 2023. With offices in New York, London, Amsterdam and Dallas, the company remains focused on investing primarily in single-tenant, industrial, warehouse and retail properties located in the U.S. and Northern and Western Europe, under long-term net leases with built-in rent escalations.

About United Development Funding IV

United Development Funding IV invests in secured loans for the acquisition and development of land into single-family home lots, and the construction of model and new single-family homes. It also makes equity investments in residential real estate. The company has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust. As a result, it would not be subject to corporate income tax on that portion of its net income that is distributed to shareholders. United Development Funding IV was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Grapevine, Texas.