Contrasting Medalist Diversified REIT (NASDAQ:MDRR) & Impac Mortgage (NYSE:IMH)

Impac Mortgage (NYSE:IMH) and Medalist Diversified REIT (NASDAQ:MDRR) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership and valuation.

Volatility & Risk

Impac Mortgage has a beta of 0.9, meaning that its share price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Medalist Diversified REIT has a beta of 0.73, meaning that its share price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

12.5% of Impac Mortgage shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 17.4% of Medalist Diversified REIT shares are held by institutional investors. 2.8% of Impac Mortgage shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 16.9% of Medalist Diversified REIT shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Impac Mortgage and Medalist Diversified REIT’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Impac Mortgage	N/A	-1,309.14%	-37.12%
Medalist Diversified REIT	-16.11%	-18.80%	-3.71%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Impac Mortgage and Medalist Diversified REIT, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Impac Mortgage	0	0	0	0	N/A
Medalist Diversified REIT	0	0	0	0	N/A

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Impac Mortgage and Medalist Diversified REIT”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Impac Mortgage	$8.60 million	0.96	-$39.43 million	($1.71)	-0.13
Medalist Diversified REIT	$10.17 million	1.31	-$4.57 million	($1.84)	-6.50

Medalist Diversified REIT has higher revenue and earnings than Impac Mortgage. Medalist Diversified REIT is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Impac Mortgage, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Medalist Diversified REIT beats Impac Mortgage on 7 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Impac Mortgage

Impac Mortgage Holdings, Inc. engages in the provision of mortgage and real estate solutions. It operates through the following segments: Mortgage Lending, Real Estate Services, and Long-Term Mortgage Portfolio. The Mortgage Lending segment offers mortgage lending products through lending channels, retail, wholesale, and correspondent, and retains mortgage servicing rights and warehouse lending facilities. The Real Estate Services segment performs servicing and provides loss mitigation services for securitized long-term mortgage portfolio. The Long-Term Mortgage Portfolio segment is composed of residual interests in securitization trusts. The company was founded by Joseph R. Tomkinson in August 1995 and is headquartered in Newport Beach, CA.

About Medalist Diversified REIT

Medalist Diversified REIT Inc. is a Virginia-based real estate investment trust that specializes in acquiring, owning and managing commercial real estate in the Southeast region of the U.S. The Company's strategy is to focus on commercial real estate which is expected to provide an attractive balance of risk and returns. Medalist utilizes a rigorous, consistent and replicable process for sourcing and conducting due diligence of acquisitions.