Comparing Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) & ACRES Commercial Realty (NYSE:ACR)

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) and ACRES Commercial Realty (NYSE:ACR) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, risk, earnings, profitability and institutional ownership.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

90.8% of Crown Castle shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 40.0% of ACRES Commercial Realty shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of Crown Castle shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.1% of ACRES Commercial Realty shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Crown Castle and ACRES Commercial Realty’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Crown Castle	18.59%	20.98%	3.20%
ACRES Commercial Realty	25.71%	5.43%	1.15%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Crown Castle and ACRES Commercial Realty”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Crown Castle	$6.59 billion	6.00	$1.50 billion	$2.82	32.27
ACRES Commercial Realty	$93.14 million	1.31	$22.39 million	$0.84	18.81

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

Volatility & Risk

Crown Castle has a beta of 0.86, suggesting that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ACRES Commercial Realty has a beta of 2.06, suggesting that its stock price is 106% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Crown Castle and ACRES Commercial Realty, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Crown Castle	1	10	3	0	2.14
ACRES Commercial Realty	0	0	1	0	3.00

Crown Castle presently has a consensus target price of $117.00, suggesting a potential upside of 28.57%. ACRES Commercial Realty has a consensus target price of $17.50, suggesting a potential upside of 10.76%. Given Crown Castle’s higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Crown Castle is more favorable than ACRES Commercial Realty.

Summary

Crown Castle beats ACRES Commercial Realty on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Crown Castle

Crown Castle owns, operates and leases more than 40,000 cell towers and approximately 90,000 route miles of fiber supporting small cells and fiber solutions across every major U.S. market. This nationwide portfolio of communications infrastructure connects cities and communities to essential data, technology and wireless service – bringing information, ideas and innovations to the people and businesses that need them.

About ACRES Commercial Realty

ACRES Commercial Realty Corp., a real estate investment trust (REIT), focuses on the origination, holding, and management of commercial real estate mortgage loans and equity investments in commercial real estate property in the United States. It invests in commercial real estate-related assets, including floating-rate first mortgage loans, first priority interests in first mortgage loans, subordinated interests in first mortgage loans, mezzanine financing, preferred equity investments, and commercial mortgage-backed securities. The company qualifies as a real estate investment trust for federal income tax purposes. It generally would not be subject to federal corporate income taxes if it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to its stockholders. The company was formerly known as Exantas Capital Corp. and changed its name to ACRES Commercial Realty Corp. in February 2021. ACRES Commercial Realty Corp. was incorporated in 2005 and is based in Uniondale, New York.