Comparing Global Net Lease (NYSE:GNL) and Universal Health Realty Income Trust (NYSE:UHT)

Global Net Lease (NYSE:GNL) and Universal Health Realty Income Trust (NYSE:UHT) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, risk, dividends and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares Global Net Lease and Universal Health Realty Income Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Global Net Lease	-21.37%	-7.04%	-2.24%
Universal Health Realty Income Trust	18.41%	9.44%	3.07%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Global Net Lease and Universal Health Realty Income Trust, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Global Net Lease	0	2	3	1	2.83
Universal Health Realty Income Trust	0	0	0	0	0.00

Global Net Lease presently has a consensus target price of $9.50, suggesting a potential upside of 31.03%. Given Global Net Lease’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Global Net Lease is more favorable than Universal Health Realty Income Trust.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

61.2% of Global Net Lease shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 64.7% of Universal Health Realty Income Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Global Net Lease shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.2% of Universal Health Realty Income Trust shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Global Net Lease and Universal Health Realty Income Trust”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Global Net Lease	$812.62 million	2.06	-$211.91 million	($0.94)	-7.71
Universal Health Realty Income Trust	$98.69 million	5.26	$15.40 million	$1.31	28.59

Universal Health Realty Income Trust has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Global Net Lease. Global Net Lease is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Universal Health Realty Income Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Global Net Lease pays an annual dividend of $1.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 15.2%. Universal Health Realty Income Trust pays an annual dividend of $2.94 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.9%. Global Net Lease pays out -117.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Universal Health Realty Income Trust pays out 224.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Global Net Lease is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Risk and Volatility

Global Net Lease has a beta of 1.34, suggesting that its share price is 34% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Universal Health Realty Income Trust has a beta of 0.84, suggesting that its share price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Universal Health Realty Income Trust beats Global Net Lease on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Global Net Lease

Global Net Lease, Inc. (NYSE: GNL) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust listed on the NYSE. The firm focused on acquiring a diversified global portfolio of commercial properties, with an emphasis on sale-leaseback transactions involving single tenant, mission critical income producing net-leased assets across the United States, Western and Northern Europe.

About Universal Health Realty Income Trust

Universal Health Realty Income Trust, a real estate investment trust, invests in healthcare and human-service related facilities including acute care hospitals, behavioral health care hospitals, specialty facilities, medical/office buildings, free-standing emergency departments and childcare centers. We have investments or commitments in seventy-six properties located in twenty-one states.