Head to Head Contrast: Sun Communities (NYSE:SUI) vs. CoreCivic (NYSE:CXW)

CoreCivic (NYSE:CXW) and Sun Communities (NYSE:SUI) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, risk, institutional ownership and earnings.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for CoreCivic and Sun Communities, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CoreCivic	0	2	1	0	2.33
Sun Communities	0	4	5	0	2.56

CoreCivic currently has a consensus target price of $16.50, suggesting a potential upside of 29.67%. Sun Communities has a consensus target price of $142.20, suggesting a potential upside of 13.69%. Given CoreCivic’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe CoreCivic is more favorable than Sun Communities.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares CoreCivic and Sun Communities”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CoreCivic	$1.97 billion	0.72	$67.59 million	$0.56	22.72
Sun Communities	$3.22 billion	4.85	-$201.00 million	$1.16	107.83

CoreCivic has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Sun Communities. CoreCivic is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Sun Communities, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

85.1% of CoreCivic shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.6% of Sun Communities shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.9% of CoreCivic shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.9% of Sun Communities shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares CoreCivic and Sun Communities’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CoreCivic	3.50%	6.10%	2.94%
Sun Communities	3.49%	1.50%	0.66%

Risk and Volatility

CoreCivic has a beta of 0.87, meaning that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sun Communities has a beta of 0.91, meaning that its share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

CoreCivic pays an annual dividend of $1.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 13.8%. Sun Communities pays an annual dividend of $3.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. CoreCivic pays out 314.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Sun Communities pays out 324.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. CoreCivic is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Sun Communities beats CoreCivic on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CoreCivic

CoreCivic, Inc. owns and operates partnership correctional, detention, and residential reentry facilities in the United States. It operates through three segments: CoreCivic Safety, CoreCivic Community, and CoreCivic Properties. The company provides a range of solutions to government partners that serve the public good through corrections and detention management, a network of residential reentry centers to help address America’s recidivism crisis, and government real estate solutions. Its correctional, detention, and residential reentry facilities offer rehabilitation and educational programs, including basic education, faith-based services, life skills and employment training, and substance abuse treatment. The company owns and operates correctional and detention facilities, residential reentry centers, and properties for lease. CoreCivic, Inc. was founded in 1983 and is based in Brentwood, Tennessee.

About Sun Communities

Established in 1975, Sun Communities, Inc. became a publicly owned corporation in December 1993. The Company is a fully integrated REIT listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol: SUI. As of December 31, 2023, the Company owned, operated, or had an interest in a portfolio of 667 developed MH, RV and Marina properties comprising 179,310 developed sites and approximately 48,030 wet slips and dry storage spaces in the U.S., the UK and Canada.