Critical Comparison: SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust (CWYUF) versus Its Competitors

SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust (OTCMKTS:CWYUF) is one of 25 publicly-traded companies in the “REIT – EQTY TRUST – RETAIL” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust to similar companies based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, risk, dividends, valuation, profitability, earnings and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust	35.62%	4.74%	2.50%
SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust Competitors	26.27%	10.68%	3.36%

Volatility and Risk

SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust has a beta of 0.91, meaning that its share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust’s competitors have a beta of 1.13, meaning that their average share price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

85.3% of shares of all “REIT – EQTY TRUST – RETAIL” companies are owned by institutional investors. 20.9% of SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 9.1% of shares of all “REIT – EQTY TRUST – RETAIL” companies 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust	0	0	0	2	4.00
SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust Competitors	337	1957	2112	79	2.43

As a group, “REIT – EQTY TRUST – RETAIL” companies have a potential upside of 19.32%. Given SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust’s competitors higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust	$670.29 million	$172.78 million	15.38
SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust Competitors	$1.43 billion	$293.45 million	44.38

SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust. SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Dividends

SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.34 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.1%. SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust pays out 109.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. As a group, “REIT – EQTY TRUST – RETAIL” companies pay a dividend yield of 3.7% and pay out 163.4% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust is clearly a better dividend stock than its competitors, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust competitors beat SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

About SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust

SmartCentres is one of Canada’s largest fully integrated REITs, with a best-in-class and growing mixed-use portfolio featuring 191 strategically located properties in communities across the country. SmartCentres has approximately $12.0 billion in assets and owns 35.0 million square feet of income producing value-oriented retail and first-class office properties with 98.5% in place and committed occupancy, on 3,500 acres of owned land across Canada.