Head to Head Contrast: Peakstone Realty Trust (NYSE:PKST) & Easterly Government Properties (NYSE:DEA)

Peakstone Realty Trust (NYSE:PKST) and Easterly Government Properties (NYSE:DEA) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership and valuation.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

39.0% of Peakstone Realty Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.5% of Easterly Government Properties shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of Peakstone Realty Trust shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 8.1% of Easterly Government Properties shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Peakstone Realty Trust has a beta of 2.63, suggesting that its share price is 163% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Easterly Government Properties has a beta of 0.72, suggesting that its share price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Peakstone Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.90 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.5%. Easterly Government Properties pays an annual dividend of $1.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.9%. Peakstone Realty Trust pays out -5.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Easterly Government Properties pays out 530.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Peakstone Realty Trust and Easterly Government Properties, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Peakstone Realty Trust	0	1	0	0	2.00
Easterly Government Properties	0	1	0	0	2.00

Peakstone Realty Trust currently has a consensus price target of $13.00, suggesting a potential downside of 6.68%. Easterly Government Properties has a consensus price target of $14.00, suggesting a potential upside of 4.09%. Given Easterly Government Properties’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Easterly Government Properties is more favorable than Peakstone Realty Trust.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Peakstone Realty Trust and Easterly Government Properties”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Peakstone Realty Trust	$239.95 million	2.11	-$550.58 million	($15.55)	-0.90
Easterly Government Properties	$293.66 million	4.72	$18.80 million	$0.20	67.25

Easterly Government Properties has higher revenue and earnings than Peakstone Realty Trust. Peakstone Realty Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Easterly Government Properties, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Peakstone Realty Trust and Easterly Government Properties’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Peakstone Realty Trust	-60.76%	-12.06%	-5.25%
Easterly Government Properties	6.49%	1.36%	0.65%

Summary

Easterly Government Properties beats Peakstone Realty Trust on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Peakstone Realty Trust

Peakstone Realty Trust (NYSE: PKST) is an internally managed, real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns and operates a high-quality, newer-vintage portfolio of predominantly single-tenant industrial and office properties. These assets are generally leased to creditworthy tenants under long-term net lease agreements with contractual rent escalations. As of March 31, 2023, Peakstone's wholly-owned portfolio consists of 19 million square feet across 24 states in primarily high-growth, strategic coastal and sunbelt markets.

About Easterly Government Properties

Easterly Government Properties, Inc. (NYSE: DEA) is based in Washington, D.C., and focuses primarily on the acquisition, development and management of Class A commercial properties that are leased to the U.S. Government. Easterly’s experienced management team brings specialized insight into the strategy and needs of mission-critical U.S. Government agencies for properties leased to such agencies either directly or through the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA).