Retail Opportunity Investments (NASDAQ:ROIC) versus CTO Realty Growth (NYSE:CTO) Critical Review

Retail Opportunity Investments (NASDAQ:ROIC) and CTO Realty Growth (NYSE:CTO) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, profitability, valuation and dividends.

Volatility and Risk

Retail Opportunity Investments has a beta of 1.45, meaning that its share price is 45% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CTO Realty Growth has a beta of 0.78, meaning that its share price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Retail Opportunity Investments pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. CTO Realty Growth pays an annual dividend of $1.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.5%. Retail Opportunity Investments pays out 130.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. CTO Realty Growth pays out 257.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Profitability

This table compares Retail Opportunity Investments and CTO Realty Growth’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Retail Opportunity Investments	17.38%	4.32%	1.96%
CTO Realty Growth	17.10%	4.04%	1.92%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Retail Opportunity Investments and CTO Realty Growth”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Retail Opportunity Investments	$327.73 million	6.88	$34.53 million	$0.46	38.02
CTO Realty Growth	$118.66 million	5.15	$5.53 million	$0.59	34.54

Retail Opportunity Investments has higher revenue and earnings than CTO Realty Growth. CTO Realty Growth is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Retail Opportunity Investments, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Retail Opportunity Investments and CTO Realty Growth, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Retail Opportunity Investments	1	6	0	0	1.86
CTO Realty Growth	0	0	1	2	3.67

Retail Opportunity Investments presently has a consensus price target of $16.20, suggesting a potential downside of 7.38%. CTO Realty Growth has a consensus price target of $21.00, suggesting a potential upside of 3.04%. Given CTO Realty Growth’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe CTO Realty Growth is more favorable than Retail Opportunity Investments.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

97.2% of Retail Opportunity Investments shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.2% of CTO Realty Growth shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.0% of Retail Opportunity Investments shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.3% of CTO Realty Growth shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Retail Opportunity Investments beats CTO Realty Growth on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Retail Opportunity Investments

Retail Opportunity Investments Corp. (Nasdaq: ROIC), is a fully integrated, self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT) that specializes in the acquisition, ownership and management of grocery-anchored shopping centers located in densely populated, metropolitan markets across the West Coast. As of December 31, 2023, ROIC owned 94 shopping centers encompassing approximately 10.6 million square feet. ROIC is the largest publicly-traded, grocery-anchored shopping center REIT focused exclusively on the West Coast. ROIC is a member of the S&P SmallCap 600 Index and has investment-grade corporate debt ratings from Moody's Investor Services, S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings, Inc.

About CTO Realty Growth

CTO Realty Growth, Inc. is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that owns and operates a portfolio of high-quality, retail-based properties located primarily in higher growth markets in the United States. CTO also externally manages and owns a meaningful interest in Alpine Income Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE: PINE), a publicly traded net lease REIT.