Reviewing Xenia Hotels & Resorts (NYSE:XHR) and Alexander & Baldwin (NYSE:ALEX)

Xenia Hotels & Resorts (NYSE:XHR) and Alexander & Baldwin (NYSE:ALEX) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability, risk and analyst recommendations.

Volatility & Risk

Xenia Hotels & Resorts has a beta of 1.72, suggesting that its stock price is 72% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alexander & Baldwin has a beta of 1.04, suggesting that its stock price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

92.4% of Xenia Hotels & Resorts shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.3% of Alexander & Baldwin shares are held by institutional investors. 3.2% of Xenia Hotels & Resorts shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Alexander & Baldwin shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Xenia Hotels & Resorts and Alexander & Baldwin, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Xenia Hotels & Resorts	1	1	2	0	2.25
Alexander & Baldwin	0	1	1	0	2.50

Xenia Hotels & Resorts currently has a consensus price target of $12.25, indicating a potential downside of 9.33%. Alexander & Baldwin has a consensus price target of $24.00, indicating a potential upside of 28.55%. Given Alexander & Baldwin’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Alexander & Baldwin is more favorable than Xenia Hotels & Resorts.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Xenia Hotels & Resorts and Alexander & Baldwin”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Xenia Hotels & Resorts	$1.04 billion	1.25	$16.14 million	$0.63	21.44
Alexander & Baldwin	$236.67 million	5.74	$60.54 million	$1.07	17.45

Alexander & Baldwin has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Xenia Hotels & Resorts. Alexander & Baldwin is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Xenia Hotels & Resorts, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Xenia Hotels & Resorts pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Alexander & Baldwin pays an annual dividend of $0.90 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.8%. Xenia Hotels & Resorts pays out 88.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Alexander & Baldwin pays out 84.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Xenia Hotels & Resorts has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years and Alexander & Baldwin has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Alexander & Baldwin is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares Xenia Hotels & Resorts and Alexander & Baldwin’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Xenia Hotels & Resorts	5.86%	4.95%	2.19%
Alexander & Baldwin	33.94%	7.81%	4.75%

Summary

Alexander & Baldwin beats Xenia Hotels & Resorts on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Xenia Hotels & Resorts

Xenia Hotels & Resorts, Inc. is a real estate investment trust, which engages in the provision of investment in luxury and upper upscale hotels and resorts. It also owns a diversified portfolio of lodging properties operated by Marriott, Kimpton, Hyatt, Aston, Fairmong, and Loews. The company was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Orlando, FL.

About Alexander & Baldwin

Alexander & Baldwin, Inc. engages in the real estate business. It operates through the Commercial Real Estate and Land Operations segments. The Commercial Real Estate segment includes investments and acquisitions, construction and development, and in-house leasing and property management. The Land Operations segment consists of legacy landholdings, assets, and liabilities subject to the company’s simplification and monetization effort. The company was founded by Samuel Thomas Alexander and Henry Perrine Baldwin in 1870 and is headquartered in Honolulu, HI.