Contrasting Whitestone REIT (NYSE:WSR) and American Strategic Investment (NYSE:NYC)

American Strategic Investment (NYSE:NYC) and Whitestone REIT (NYSE:WSR) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings and dividends.

Risk & Volatility

American Strategic Investment has a beta of 0.13, indicating that its stock price is 87% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Whitestone REIT has a beta of 1.29, indicating that its stock price is 29% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares American Strategic Investment and Whitestone REIT’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
American Strategic Investment	-334.85%	-17.68%	-4.58%
Whitestone REIT	13.97%	4.98%	1.88%

Dividends

American Strategic Investment pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Whitestone REIT pays an annual dividend of $0.54 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. American Strategic Investment pays out -0.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Whitestone REIT pays out 76.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. American Strategic Investment is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for American Strategic Investment and Whitestone REIT, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
American Strategic Investment	0	0	0	0	0.00
Whitestone REIT	0	0	2	0	3.00

Whitestone REIT has a consensus target price of $16.00, indicating a potential upside of 10.34%. Given Whitestone REIT’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Whitestone REIT is more favorable than American Strategic Investment.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares American Strategic Investment and Whitestone REIT”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
American Strategic Investment	$61.57 million	0.46	-$105.92 million	($55.88)	-0.19
Whitestone REIT	$155.51 million	4.75	$19.18 million	$0.71	20.42

Whitestone REIT has higher revenue and earnings than American Strategic Investment. American Strategic Investment is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Whitestone REIT, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

48.0% of American Strategic Investment shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 69.5% of Whitestone REIT shares are held by institutional investors. 1.4% of American Strategic Investment shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.5% of Whitestone REIT shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Whitestone REIT beats American Strategic Investment on 14 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About American Strategic Investment

American Strategic Investment Co. (NYSE: NYC) owns a portfolio of high-quality commercial real estate located within the five boroughs of New York City.

About Whitestone REIT

Whitestone REIT (NYSE: WSR) is a community-centered real estate investment trust (REIT) that acquires, owns, operates, and develops open-air, retail centers located in some of the fastest growing markets in the country: Phoenix, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio. Our centers are convenience focused: merchandised with a mix of service-oriented tenants providing food (restaurants and grocers), self-care (health and fitness), services (financial and logistics), education and entertainment to the surrounding communities. The Company believes its strong community connections and deep tenant relationships are key to the success of its current centers and its acquisition strategy.