Highlands REIT (OTCMKTS:HHDS) versus Plymouth Industrial REIT (NYSE:PLYM) Critical Analysis

Plymouth Industrial REIT (NYSE:PLYM) and Highlands REIT (OTCMKTS:HHDS) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Plymouth Industrial REIT and Highlands REIT, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Plymouth Industrial REIT	1	5	3	0	2.22
Highlands REIT	0	0	0	0	0.00

Plymouth Industrial REIT currently has a consensus target price of $23.89, indicating a potential upside of 42.58%. Given Plymouth Industrial REIT’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Plymouth Industrial REIT is more favorable than Highlands REIT.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

92.7% of Plymouth Industrial REIT shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of Highlands REIT shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.4% of Plymouth Industrial REIT shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.7% of Highlands REIT shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

Plymouth Industrial REIT has a beta of 1.34, indicating that its share price is 34% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Highlands REIT has a beta of 21.44, indicating that its share price is 2,044% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Plymouth Industrial REIT and Highlands REIT’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Plymouth Industrial REIT	0.46%	0.20%	0.06%
Highlands REIT	-11.68%	-1.98%	-1.19%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Plymouth Industrial REIT and Highlands REIT”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Plymouth Industrial REIT	$199.85 million	3.81	$13.66 million	$0.02	837.75
Highlands REIT	$30.98 million	2.33	-$10.30 million	N/A	N/A

Plymouth Industrial REIT has higher revenue and earnings than Highlands REIT.

Summary

Plymouth Industrial REIT beats Highlands REIT on 10 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Plymouth Industrial REIT

Plymouth Industrial REIT, Inc. (NYSE: PLYM) is a full service, vertically integrated real estate investment company focused on the acquisition, ownership and management of single and multi-tenant industrial properties. Our mission is to provide tenants with cost effective space that is functional, flexible and safe.

About Highlands REIT

We are a self-advised and self-administered real estate investment trust (REIT) created to own and manage substantially all of the non-core investment properties previously owned and managed by our former parent, InvenTrust Properties Corp., a Maryland corporation (InvenTrust). On April 28, 2016, we were spun-off from InvenTrust through a pro rata distribution (the Distribution) by InvenTrust of 100% of the outstanding shares of our common stock to holders of InvenTrust's common stock. Prior to or concurrent with the separation, we and InvenTrust engaged in certain reorganization transactions that were designed to consolidate substantially all of InvenTrust's remaining non-core investment properties in Highlands.