Reviewing CareTrust REIT (NASDAQ:CTRE) and Howard Hughes (NYSE:HHH)

Howard Hughes (NYSE:HHH) and CareTrust REIT (NASDAQ:CTRE) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, risk, earnings and dividends.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

93.8% of Howard Hughes shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.8% of CareTrust REIT shares are held by institutional investors. 33.0% of Howard Hughes shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.8% of CareTrust REIT shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Howard Hughes and CareTrust REIT, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Howard Hughes	0	0	2	0	3.00
CareTrust REIT	1	2	3	0	2.33

Howard Hughes currently has a consensus price target of $82.00, suggesting a potential upside of 6.01%. CareTrust REIT has a consensus price target of $30.83, suggesting a potential upside of 16.86%. Given CareTrust REIT’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe CareTrust REIT is more favorable than Howard Hughes.

Volatility and Risk

Howard Hughes has a beta of 1.48, indicating that its share price is 48% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CareTrust REIT has a beta of 1.09, indicating that its share price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Howard Hughes and CareTrust REIT”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Howard Hughes	$1.75 billion	2.23	-$550.95 million	$3.94	19.63
CareTrust REIT	$228.26 million	21.69	$125.08 million	$0.79	33.40

CareTrust REIT has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Howard Hughes. Howard Hughes is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CareTrust REIT, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Howard Hughes and CareTrust REIT’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Howard Hughes	6.57%	3.38%	1.03%
CareTrust REIT	42.22%	5.59%	4.39%

About Howard Hughes

Howard Hughes Holdings Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a real estate development company in the United States. It operates in four segments: Operating Assets; Master Planned Communities (MPCs); Seaport; and Strategic Developments. The Operating Assets segment consists of developed or acquired retail, office, and multi-family properties along with other retail investments. Its MPCs segment develops, sells, and leases residential and commercial land designated for long-term community development projects in and around Las Vegas, Nevada; Houston, Texas; and Phoenix, Arizona. The Seaport segment is involved in the landlord operations, managed businesses, and events and sponsorships services of its restaurant, retail, and entertain properties in Pier 17, New York City; Historic Area/Uplands; and Tin Building, as well as in 250 Water Street and in the Jean-Georges restaurants. The Strategic Development segment develops and redevelops residential condominiums and commercial properties. It serves homebuilders. Howard Hughes Holdings Inc. was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas.

About CareTrust REIT

CareTrust REIT, Inc.’s (CareTrust REIT or the Company) primary business consists of acquiring, financing, developing and owning real property to be leased to third-party tenants in the healthcare sector. As of March 31, 2024, the Company owned directly or through a joint venture and leased to independent operators, 228 skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), multi-service campuses, assisted living facilities (ALFs) and independent living facilities (ILFs) consisting of 24,189 operational beds and units located in 29 states with the highest concentration of properties by rental income located in California and Texas. As of March 31, 2024, the Company also had other real estate related investments consisting of one preferred equity investment, nine real estate secured loans receivable and four mezzanine loans receivable with a carrying value of $233.3 million.