Head-To-Head Analysis: AG Mortgage Investment Trust (NYSE:MITT) and W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC)

AG Mortgage Investment Trust (NYSE:MITT) and W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation and risk.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares AG Mortgage Investment Trust and W. P. Carey”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AG Mortgage Investment Trust	$68.95 million	3.18	$53.78 million	$2.28	3.26
W. P. Carey	$1.58 billion	8.89	$460.84 million	$2.09	30.77

W. P. Carey has higher revenue and earnings than AG Mortgage Investment Trust. AG Mortgage Investment Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than W. P. Carey, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

AG Mortgage Investment Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.2%. W. P. Carey pays an annual dividend of $3.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.5%. AG Mortgage Investment Trust pays out 33.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. W. P. Carey pays out 168.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. AG Mortgage Investment Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares AG Mortgage Investment Trust and W. P. Carey’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AG Mortgage Investment Trust	20.19%	9.70%	0.46%
W. P. Carey	29.11%	5.37%	2.61%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

27.3% of AG Mortgage Investment Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 73.7% of W. P. Carey shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.2% of AG Mortgage Investment Trust shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of W. P. Carey shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

AG Mortgage Investment Trust has a beta of 2, indicating that its stock price is 100% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, W. P. Carey has a beta of 0.97, indicating that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for AG Mortgage Investment Trust and W. P. Carey, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AG Mortgage Investment Trust	0	1	3	0	2.75
W. P. Carey	1	5	3	0	2.22

AG Mortgage Investment Trust presently has a consensus price target of $8.25, indicating a potential upside of 11.11%. W. P. Carey has a consensus price target of $62.38, indicating a potential downside of 3.01%. Given AG Mortgage Investment Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe AG Mortgage Investment Trust is more favorable than W. P. Carey.

Summary

AG Mortgage Investment Trust beats W. P. Carey on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About AG Mortgage Investment Trust

AG Mortgage Investment Trust, Inc. operates as a residential mortgage real estate investment trust in the United States. Its investment portfolio includes residential investments, including non-agency loans, agency-eligible loans, re-and non-performing loans, and non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities, as well as commercial loans 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. AG Mortgage Investment Trust, Inc. was incorporated in 2011 and is based in New York, New York.

About W. P. Carey

W. P. Carey ranks among the largest net lease REITs with a well-diversified portfolio of high-quality, operationally critical commercial real estate, which includes 1,424 net lease properties covering approximately 173 million square feet and a portfolio of 89 self-storage operating properties as of December 31, 2023. With offices in New York, London, Amsterdam and Dallas, the company remains focused on investing primarily in single-tenant, industrial, warehouse and retail properties located in the U.S. and Northern and Western Europe, under long-term net leases with built-in rent escalations.