American Assets Trust (NYSE:AAT – Get Free Report) and Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX – Get Free Report) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, profitability and analyst recommendations.
Profitability
This table compares American Assets Trust and Equinix’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| American Assets Trust | 11.63% | 4.26% | 1.68% |
| Equinix | 10.43% | 6.91% | 2.63% |
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares American Assets Trust and Equinix’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| American Assets Trust | $422.65 million | 2.64 | $55.88 million | $0.84 | 21.89 |
| Equinix | $7.26 billion | 9.29 | $704.34 million | $8.67 | 83.16 |
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of current recommendations for American Assets Trust and Equinix, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| American Assets Trust | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.00 |
| Equinix | 0 | 7 | 9 | 1 | 2.65 |
American Assets Trust currently has a consensus price target of $21.00, suggesting a potential upside of 14.19%. Equinix has a consensus price target of $814.57, suggesting a potential upside of 12.98%. Given American Assets Trust’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe American Assets Trust is more favorable than Equinix.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
89.4% of American Assets Trust shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.2% of Equinix shares are held by institutional investors. 35.4% of American Assets Trust shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Equinix shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Risk and Volatility
American Assets Trust has a beta of 1.12, indicating that its share price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Equinix has a beta of 0.66, indicating that its share price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Dividends
American Assets Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.2%. Equinix pays an annual dividend of $13.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. American Assets Trust pays out 157.1% 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 157.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. American Assets Trust has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years and Equinix has increased its dividend for 8 consecutive years. American Assets Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Summary
Equinix beats American Assets Trust on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.
About American Assets Trust
American Assets Trust, Inc. is a full service, vertically integrated and self-administered real estate investment trust ("REIT"), headquartered in San Diego, California. The company has over 55 years of experience in acquiring, improving, developing and managing premier office, retail, and residential properties throughout the United States in some of the nation's most dynamic, high-barrier-to-entry markets primarily in Southern California, Northern California, Washington, Oregon, Texas and Hawaii. The company's office portfolio comprises approximately 4.1 million rentable square feet, and its retail portfolio comprises approximately 3.1 million rentable square feet. In addition, the company owns one mixed-use property (including approximately 94,000 rentable square feet of retail space and a 369-room all-suite hotel) and 2,110 multifamily units. In 2011, the company was formed to succeed to the real estate business of American Assets, Inc., a privately held corporation founded in 1967 and, as such, has significant experience, long-standing relationships and extensive knowledge of its core markets, submarkets and asset classes.
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.
Receive News & Ratings for American Assets Trust Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for American Assets Trust and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
