Head-To-Head Analysis: Realty Income (NYSE:O) and Equity Commonwealth (NYSE:EQC)

Realty Income (NYSE:O) and Equity Commonwealth (NYSE:EQC) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk and dividends.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

70.8% of Realty Income shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.0% of Equity Commonwealth shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of Realty Income shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.1% of Equity Commonwealth shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Realty Income and Equity Commonwealth’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Realty Income	17.89%	2.36%	1.35%
Equity Commonwealth	82.00%	2.09%	1.96%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Realty Income and Equity Commonwealth”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Realty Income	$4.08 billion	12.57	$872.31 million	$1.08	54.52
Equity Commonwealth	$60.52 million	35.20	$91.16 million	$0.39	50.90

Realty Income has higher revenue and earnings than Equity Commonwealth. Equity Commonwealth is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Realty Income, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

Realty Income has a beta of 0.99, indicating that its share price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Equity Commonwealth has a beta of 0.27, indicating that its share price is 73% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Realty Income and Equity Commonwealth, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Realty Income	0	8	6	0	2.43
Equity Commonwealth	0	0	0	0	N/A

Realty Income currently has a consensus price target of $63.94, indicating a potential upside of 8.60%. Given Realty Income’s higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Realty Income is more favorable than Equity Commonwealth.

Summary

Realty Income beats Equity Commonwealth on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Realty Income

Realty Income, The Monthly Dividend Company, is an S&P 500 company and member of the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats index. We invest in people and places to deliver dependable monthly dividends that increase over time. The company is structured as a real estate investment trust (“REIT”), and its monthly dividends are supported by the cash flow from over 15,450 real estate properties (including properties acquired in the Spirit merger in January 2024) primarily owned under long-term net lease agreements with commercial clients. To date, the company has declared 644 consecutive monthly dividends on its shares of common stock throughout its 55-year operating history and increased the dividend 123 times since Realty Income’s public listing in 1994 (NYSE: O).

About Equity Commonwealth

Equity Commonwealth (NYSE: EQC) is a Chicago based, internally managed and self-advised real estate investment trust (REIT) with commercial office properties in the United States. EQC's portfolio is comprised of four properties totaling 1.5 million square feet.