Reviewing Ashford Hospitality Trust (NYSE:AHT) and CoreCivic (NYSE:CXW)

Ashford Hospitality Trust (NYSE:AHT) and CoreCivic (NYSE:CXW) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings and valuation.

Risk and Volatility

Ashford Hospitality Trust has a beta of 2.23, indicating that its share price is 123% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CoreCivic has a beta of 0.79, indicating that its share price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

41.0% of Ashford Hospitality Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 85.1% of CoreCivic shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.2% of Ashford Hospitality Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.3% of CoreCivic shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Ashford Hospitality Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. CoreCivic pays an annual dividend of $1.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.1%. Ashford Hospitality Trust pays out -0.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. CoreCivic pays out 231.6% 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 Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Ashford Hospitality Trust and CoreCivic, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ashford Hospitality Trust	0	0	0	0	0.00
CoreCivic	0	0	3	0	3.00

CoreCivic has a consensus target price of $31.00, indicating a potential upside of 42.73%. Given CoreCivic’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe CoreCivic is more favorable than Ashford Hospitality Trust.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Ashford Hospitality Trust and CoreCivic”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ashford Hospitality Trust	$1.15 billion	0.03	-$178.49 million	($38.63)	-0.16
CoreCivic	$1.95 billion	1.22	$68.87 million	$0.76	28.58

CoreCivic has higher revenue and earnings than Ashford Hospitality Trust. Ashford Hospitality Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CoreCivic, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Ashford Hospitality Trust and CoreCivic’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ashford Hospitality Trust	2.84%	-12.89%	1.01%
CoreCivic	3.51%	5.97%	2.97%

Summary

CoreCivic beats Ashford Hospitality Trust on 14 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ashford Hospitality Trust

Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc., together with its subsidiaries (Ashford Trust), is a real estate investment trust (REIT). While our portfolio currently consists of upscale hotels and upper upscale full-service hotels, our investment strategy is predominantly focused on investing in upper upscale full-service hotels in the United States that have revenue per available room (RevPAR) generally less than twice the U.S. national average, and in all methods including direct real estate, equity, and debt. We currently anticipate future investments will predominantly be in upper upscale hotels. We own our lodging investments and conduct our business through Ashford Hospitality Limited Partnership (Ashford Trust OP), our operating partnership. Ashford OP General Partner LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ashford Trust, serves as the sole general partner of our operating partnership.

About CoreCivic

CoreCivic, Inc. owns and operates partnership correctional, detention, and residential reentry facilities in the United States. It operates through three segments: CoreCivic Safety, CoreCivic Community, and CoreCivic Properties. The company provides a range of solutions to government partners that serve the public good through corrections and detention management, a network of residential reentry centers to help address America’s recidivism crisis, and government real estate solutions. Its correctional, detention, and residential reentry facilities offer rehabilitation and educational programs, including basic education, faith-based services, life skills and employment training, and substance abuse treatment. The company owns and operates correctional and detention facilities, residential reentry centers, and properties for lease. CoreCivic, Inc. was founded in 1983 and is based in Brentwood, Tennessee.