Reviewing Ventas (NYSE:VTR) & Diversified Healthcare Trust (NASDAQ:DHC)

Diversified Healthcare Trust (NASDAQ:DHC) and Ventas (NYSE:VTR) are both real estate companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, profitability and valuation.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Diversified Healthcare Trust and Ventas”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Diversified Healthcare Trust	$1.54 billion	1.22	-$285.89 million	($1.11)	-7.01
Ventas	$5.83 billion	7.68	$251.38 million	$0.53	159.79

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

Volatility and Risk

Diversified Healthcare Trust has a beta of 2.29, indicating that its share price is 129% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ventas has a beta of 0.72, indicating that its share price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Diversified Healthcare Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Ventas pays an annual dividend of $2.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Diversified Healthcare Trust pays out -3.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ventas pays out 392.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Ventas has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Ventas is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

76.0% of Diversified Healthcare Trust shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.2% of Ventas shares are held by institutional investors. 10.2% of Diversified Healthcare Trust shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Ventas shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Diversified Healthcare Trust and Ventas, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Diversified Healthcare Trust	1	2	2	1	2.50
Ventas	0	3	18	0	2.86

Diversified Healthcare Trust presently has a consensus price target of $9.83, indicating a potential upside of 26.39%. Ventas has a consensus price target of $98.59, indicating a potential upside of 16.41%. Given Diversified Healthcare Trust’s higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Diversified Healthcare Trust is more favorable than Ventas.

Profitability

This table compares Diversified Healthcare Trust and Ventas’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Diversified Healthcare Trust	-17.73%	-16.22%	-6.06%
Ventas	3.86%	1.86%	0.91%

Summary

Ventas beats Diversified Healthcare Trust on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Diversified Healthcare Trust

Diversified Healthcare Trust is a real estate investment trust, which engages in the ownership of senior living communities, medical office buildings, and wellness centers. It operates through the following segments: Office Portfolio, Senior Housing Operating Portfolio (SHOP), and Non-Segment. The Office Portfolio segment consists of medical office properties leased to medical providers and other medical related businesses, as well as life science properties leased to biotech laboratories and other similar tenants. The SHOP segment manages senior living communities that offers short term and long term residential care, and other services for residents where it pay fees to the operator to manage the communities for its account. The company was founded on December 16, 1998 and is headquartered in Newton, MA.

About Ventas

Ventas Inc. (NYSE: VTR) is a leading S&P 500 real estate investment trust focused on delivering strong, sustainable shareholder returns by enabling exceptional environments that benefit a large and growing aging population. The Company's growth is fueled by its senior housing communities, which provide valuable services to residents and enable them to thrive in supported environments. Ventas leverages its unmatched operational expertise, data-driven insights from its Ventas Operational InsightsTM platform, extensive relationships and strong financial position to achieve its goal of delivering outsized performance across approximately 1,400 properties. The Ventas portfolio is composed of senior housing communities, outpatient medical buildings, research centers and healthcare facilities in North America and the United Kingdom. The Company benefits from a seasoned team of talented professionals who share a commitment to excellence, integrity and a common purpose of helping people live longer, healthier, happier lives.