Medalist Diversified REIT (NASDAQ:MDRR) vs. Alexander’s (NYSE:ALX) Head to Head Analysis

Medalist Diversified REIT (NASDAQ:MDRR) and Alexander’s (NYSE:ALX) 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, earnings, risk, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Medalist Diversified REIT and Alexander’s’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Medalist Diversified REIT	-19.20%	-21.37%	-4.03%
Alexander’s	45.97%	43.56%	7.62%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Medalist Diversified REIT and Alexander’s’ gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Medalist Diversified REIT	$10.17 million	1.36	-$4.57 million	($1.84)	-6.70
Alexander’s	$233.14 million	4.86	$102.41 million	$20.92	10.59

Alexander’s has higher revenue and earnings than Medalist Diversified REIT. Medalist Diversified REIT is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Alexander’s, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Medalist Diversified REIT and Alexander’s, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Medalist Diversified REIT	0	0	0	0	N/A
Alexander’s	1	0	0	0	1.00

Alexander’s has a consensus target price of $125.00, indicating a potential downside of 43.57%. Given Alexander’s’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Alexander’s is more favorable than Medalist Diversified REIT.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

17.4% of Medalist Diversified REIT shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 32.0% of Alexander’s shares are owned by institutional investors. 16.9% of Medalist Diversified REIT shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 26.3% of Alexander’s shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Medalist Diversified REIT pays an annual dividend of $0.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Alexander’s pays an annual dividend of $18.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.1%. Medalist Diversified REIT pays out -8.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Alexander’s pays out 86.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Volatility and Risk

Medalist Diversified REIT has a beta of 0.74, indicating that its share price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alexander’s has a beta of 0.81, indicating that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Alexander’s beats Medalist Diversified REIT on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Medalist Diversified REIT

Medalist Diversified REIT Inc. is a Virginia-based real estate investment trust that specializes in acquiring, owning and managing commercial real estate in the Southeast region of the U.S. The Company's strategy is to focus on commercial real estate which is expected to provide an attractive balance of risk and returns. Medalist utilizes a rigorous, consistent and replicable process for sourcing and conducting due diligence of acquisitions.

About Alexander’s

Alexander's, Inc. is a real estate investment trust which has five properties in New York City.