Reviewing Global Net Lease (NYSE:GNL) & Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT)

Global Net Lease (NYSE:GNL) and Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, earnings and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Global Net Lease and Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Global Net Lease	-33.26%	-9.41%	-3.07%
Blackstone Mortgage Trust	-12.91%	9.35%	1.68%

Dividends

Global Net Lease pays an annual dividend of $1.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 13.7%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.1%. Global Net Lease pays out -60.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Blackstone Mortgage Trust pays out -135.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Global Net Lease and Blackstone Mortgage Trust, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Global Net Lease	0	3	2	0	2.40
Blackstone Mortgage Trust	0	6	2	0	2.25

Global Net Lease currently has a consensus price target of $9.83, indicating a potential upside of 22.69%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a consensus price target of $20.08, indicating a potential upside of 7.74%. Given Global Net Lease’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Global Net Lease is more favorable than Blackstone Mortgage Trust.

Risk & Volatility

Global Net Lease has a beta of 1.37, meaning that its share price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a beta of 1.5, meaning that its share price is 50% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

61.2% of Global Net Lease shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 64.2% of Blackstone Mortgage Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Global Net Lease shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Blackstone Mortgage Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Global Net Lease and Blackstone Mortgage Trust”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Global Net Lease	$734.23 million	2.51	-$211.91 million	($1.82)	-4.40
Blackstone Mortgage Trust	$2.04 billion	1.58	$246.55 million	($1.39)	-13.41

Blackstone Mortgage Trust has higher revenue and earnings than Global Net Lease. Blackstone Mortgage Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Global Net Lease, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Blackstone Mortgage Trust beats Global Net Lease on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Global Net Lease

Global Net Lease, Inc. (NYSE: GNL) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust listed on the NYSE. The firm focused on acquiring a diversified global portfolio of commercial properties, with an emphasis on sale-leaseback transactions involving single tenant, mission critical income producing net-leased assets across the United States, Western and Northern Europe.

About Blackstone Mortgage Trust

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc., a real estate finance company, originates senior loans collateralized by commercial properties in North America, Europe, and Australia. The company originates and acquires senior floating rate mortgage loans that are secured by a first-priority mortgage on commercial real estate assets. It operates as a real estate investment trust for federal income tax purposes. The company was formerly known as Capital Trust, Inc. and changed its name to Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. in May 2013. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in New York, New York.