Financial Contrast: AG Mortgage Investment Trust (NYSE:MITT) vs. CareTrust REIT (NASDAQ:CTRE)

CareTrust REIT (NASDAQ:CTRE) and AG Mortgage Investment Trust (NYSE:MITT) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Risk and Volatility

CareTrust REIT has a beta of 1.09, indicating that its share price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AG Mortgage Investment Trust has a beta of 2, indicating that its share price is 100% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares CareTrust REIT and AG Mortgage Investment Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CareTrust REIT	36.88%	5.32%	3.95%
AG Mortgage Investment Trust	20.19%	9.70%	0.46%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for CareTrust REIT and AG Mortgage Investment Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CareTrust REIT	1	2	3	0	2.33
AG Mortgage Investment Trust	0	1	3	0	2.75

CareTrust REIT presently has a consensus target price of $30.67, suggesting a potential upside of 19.96%. AG Mortgage Investment Trust has a consensus target price of $8.25, suggesting a potential upside of 17.52%. Given CareTrust REIT’s higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe CareTrust REIT is more favorable than AG Mortgage Investment Trust.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares CareTrust REIT and AG Mortgage Investment Trust”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CareTrust REIT	$217.77 million	20.13	$53.74 million	$0.72	35.51
AG Mortgage Investment Trust	$260.33 million	0.80	$53.78 million	$2.28	3.08

AG Mortgage Investment Trust has higher revenue and earnings than CareTrust REIT. AG Mortgage Investment Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CareTrust REIT, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

87.8% of CareTrust REIT shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 27.3% of AG Mortgage Investment Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.8% of CareTrust REIT shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.2% of AG Mortgage Investment Trust shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

CareTrust REIT pays an annual dividend of $1.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.5%. AG Mortgage Investment Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.8%. CareTrust REIT pays out 161.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. AG Mortgage Investment Trust pays out 33.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. AG Mortgage Investment Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

AG Mortgage Investment Trust beats CareTrust REIT on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CareTrust REIT

CareTrust REIT, Inc.’s (CareTrust REIT or the Company) primary business consists of acquiring, financing, developing and owning real property to be leased to third-party tenants in the healthcare sector. As of March 31, 2024, the Company owned directly or through a joint venture and leased to independent operators, 228 skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), multi-service campuses, assisted living facilities (ALFs) and independent living facilities (ILFs) consisting of 24,189 operational beds and units located in 29 states with the highest concentration of properties by rental income located in California and Texas. As of March 31, 2024, the Company also had other real estate related investments consisting of one preferred equity investment, nine real estate secured loans receivable and four mezzanine loans receivable with a carrying value of $233.3 million.

About AG Mortgage Investment Trust

AG Mortgage Investment Trust, Inc. operates as a residential mortgage real estate investment trust in the United States. Its investment portfolio includes residential investments, including non-agency loans, agency-eligible loans, re-and non-performing loans, and non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities, as well as commercial loans and commercial mortgage-backed securities. The company qualifies as a real estate investment trust for federal income tax purposes. It generally would not be subject to federal corporate income taxes if it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to its stockholders. AG Mortgage Investment Trust, Inc. was incorporated in 2011 and is based in New York, New York.