Financial Contrast: OUTFRONT Media (NYSE:OUT) & Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX)

OUTFRONT Media (NYSE:OUT) and Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) are both real estate companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability and risk.

Profitability

This table compares OUTFRONT Media and Equinix’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
OUTFRONT Media	12.66%	37.44%	4.65%
Equinix	15.64%	10.76%	3.83%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

94.9% of Equinix shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of OUTFRONT Media shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Equinix shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares OUTFRONT Media and Equinix”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
OUTFRONT Media	$1.83 billion	2.85	$147.00 million	$1.39	21.29
Equinix	$9.80 billion	10.51	$1.35 billion	$15.53	67.25

Equinix has higher revenue and earnings than OUTFRONT Media. OUTFRONT Media is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Equinix, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

OUTFRONT Media pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Equinix pays an annual dividend of $20.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. OUTFRONT Media pays out 86.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Equinix pays out 132.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Equinix has raised its dividend for 10 consecutive years. OUTFRONT Media is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for OUTFRONT Media and Equinix, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
OUTFRONT Media	0	1	6	0	2.86
Equinix	0	4	21	2	2.93

OUTFRONT Media presently has a consensus price target of $34.00, indicating a potential upside of 14.86%. Equinix has a consensus price target of $1,203.40, indicating a potential upside of 15.22%. Given Equinix’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Equinix is more favorable than OUTFRONT Media.

Risk & Volatility

OUTFRONT Media has a beta of 1.49, indicating that its share price is 49% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Equinix has a beta of 0.99, indicating that its share price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Equinix beats OUTFRONT Media on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About OUTFRONT Media

OUTFRONT Media, Inc. leases advertising space on out-of-home advertising structures and sites. Its inventory consists of billboard displays, which are primarily located on the most heavily traveled highways & roadways, and transit advertising displays operated under exclusive multi-year contracts with municipalities in large cities across the U.S. and Canada. It operates through the U.S. Media and other segments. The U.S. Media segment includes U.S. Billboard and Transit. The company was founded in 1938 and is headquartered in New York, NY.

About Equinix

Equinix (Nasdaq: EQIX) is the world's digital infrastructure company . Digital leaders harness Equinix's trusted platform to bring together and interconnect foundational infrastructure at software speed. Equinix enables organizations to access all the right places, partners and possibilities to scale with agility, speed the launch of digital services, deliver world-class experiences and multiply their value, while supporting their sustainability goals.