KKR Real Estate Finance Trust (KREF) Competitors $9.25 -0.03 (-0.32%) Closing price 08/8/2025 03:59 PM EasternExtended Trading$9.24 -0.01 (-0.05%) As of 08/8/2025 06:12 PM Eastern Extended trading is trading that happens on electronic markets outside of regular trading hours. This is a fair market value extended hours price provided by Polygon.io. Learn more. Add Compare Share Share Competitors Stock AnalysisAnalyst ForecastsChartCompetitorsDividendEarningsFinancialsHeadlinesInsider TradesOptions ChainOwnershipSEC FilingsShort InterestSustainabilityTrendsBuy This Stock KREF vs. ACRE, ARI, BRSP, BXMT, EFC, FBRT, LADR, MFA, RITM, and STWDShould you be buying KKR Real Estate Finance Trust stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust include Ares Commercial Real Estate (ACRE), Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (ARI), BrightSpire Capital (BRSP), Blackstone Mortgage Trust (BXMT), Ellington Financial (EFC), Franklin BSP Realty Trust (FBRT), Ladder Capital (LADR), MFA Financial (MFA), Rithm Capital (RITM), and STARWOOD PROPERTY TRUST (STWD). These companies are all part of the "finance" sector. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust vs. Its Competitors Ares Commercial Real Estate Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance BrightSpire Capital Blackstone Mortgage Trust Ellington Financial Franklin BSP Realty Trust Ladder Capital MFA Financial Rithm Capital STARWOOD PROPERTY TRUST Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) and KKR Real Estate Finance Trust (NYSE:KREF) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, profitability, media sentiment, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and earnings. Do analysts recommend ACRE or KREF? Ares Commercial Real Estate presently has a consensus target price of $5.31, suggesting a potential upside of 21.99%. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust has a consensus target price of $11.95, suggesting a potential upside of 29.19%. Given KKR Real Estate Finance Trust's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe KKR Real Estate Finance Trust is more favorable than Ares Commercial Real Estate.Company Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Ares Commercial Real Estate 1 Sell rating(s) 4 Hold rating(s) 0 Buy rating(s) 0 Strong Buy rating(s) 1.80KKR Real Estate Finance Trust 0 Sell rating(s) 1 Hold rating(s) 4 Buy rating(s) 0 Strong Buy rating(s) 2.80 Which has stronger earnings & valuation, ACRE or KREF? KKR Real Estate Finance Trust has higher revenue and earnings than Ares Commercial Real Estate. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ares Commercial Real Estate, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks. CompanyGross RevenuePrice/Sales RatioNet IncomeEarnings Per SharePrice/Earnings RatioAres Commercial Real Estate$69.65M3.44-$34.99M-$0.34-12.81KKR Real Estate Finance Trust$564.63M1.08$35.59M-$0.66-14.02 Is ACRE or KREF a better dividend stock? Ares Commercial Real Estate pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 13.8%. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.8%. Ares Commercial Real Estate pays out -176.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust pays out -151.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Ares Commercial Real Estate is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio. Which has more risk and volatility, ACRE or KREF? Ares Commercial Real Estate has a beta of 1.33, indicating that its stock price is 33% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, KKR Real Estate Finance Trust has a beta of 0.92, indicating that its stock price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500. Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of ACRE or KREF? 41.3% of Ares Commercial Real Estate shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.2% of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.8% of Ares Commercial Real Estate shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.9% of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term. Does the media favor ACRE or KREF? In the previous week, Ares Commercial Real Estate had 16 more articles in the media than KKR Real Estate Finance Trust. MarketBeat recorded 18 mentions for Ares Commercial Real Estate and 2 mentions for KKR Real Estate Finance Trust. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust's average media sentiment score of 1.75 beat Ares Commercial Real Estate's score of -0.01 indicating that KKR Real Estate Finance Trust is being referred to more favorably in the news media. Company Very Positive Positive Neutral Negative Very Negative Overall Sentiment Ares Commercial Real Estate 3 Very Positive mention(s) 1 Positive mention(s) 6 Neutral mention(s) 3 Negative mention(s) 1 Very Negative mention(s) Neutral KKR Real Estate Finance Trust 2 Very Positive mention(s) 0 Positive mention(s) 0 Neutral mention(s) 0 Negative mention(s) 0 Very Negative mention(s) Very Positive Is ACRE or KREF more profitable? KKR Real Estate Finance Trust has a net margin of -4.43% compared to Ares Commercial Real Estate's net margin of -29.57%. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust's return on equity of 1.61% beat Ares Commercial Real Estate's return on equity.Company Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Ares Commercial Real Estate-29.57% -5.44% -1.78% KKR Real Estate Finance Trust -4.43%1.61%0.33% SummaryKKR Real Estate Finance Trust beats Ares Commercial Real Estate on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks. Get KKR Real Estate Finance Trust News Delivered to You Automatically Sign up to receive the latest news and ratings for KREF and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter. Email Address New MarketBeat Followers Over TimeWhat are MarkeBeat Followers?This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding KREF and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period. Skip ChartMedia Sentiment Over TimeWhat is Media Sentiment?This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.Skip Chart KREF vs. The Competition Export to ExcelMetricKKR Real Estate Finance TrustREIT IndustryFinance SectorNYSE ExchangeMarket Cap$607.54M$1.48B$12.22B$20.63BDividend Yield10.82%12.99%5.63%3.65%P/E Ratio-14.0212.9819.3228.07Price / Sales1.083.1626.2676.23Price / Cash5.4810.7018.2317.60Price / Book0.450.752.224.61Net Income$35.59M$79.73M$1.00B$994.05M7 Day Performance0.60%-0.99%0.34%0.54%1 Month Performance0.22%-2.37%-0.02%-0.97%1 Year Performance-14.75%-9.98%543.78%14.31% KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Competitors List Export to ExcelCompanyMarketRankShare PriceAnalysts' Price Target1Y Price PerformanceMarket CapRevenueP/E RatioEmployee CountIndicator(s)KREFKKR Real Estate Finance Trust4.2119 of 5 stars$9.25-0.3%$11.95+29.2%-14.7%$607.54M$564.63M-14.02N/APositive NewsACREAres Commercial Real Estate3.3804 of 5 stars$4.51+1.5%$5.58+23.8%-35.9%$244.22M$69.65M-18.023,200Dividend AnnouncementAnalyst DowngradeARIApollo Commercial Real Estate Finance2.6119 of 5 stars$9.92+1.4%$10.31+4.0%-2.1%$1.36B$303.67M-70.82N/APositive NewsBRSPBrightSpire Capital3.124 of 5 stars$5.32+3.0%$6.79+27.8%+2.2%$670.77M$244.77M-24.1650Positive NewsBXMTBlackstone Mortgage Trust3.2941 of 5 stars$18.87+1.2%$20.00+6.0%+7.9%$3.20B$1.77B-269.57N/ANews CoveragePositive NewsEFCEllington Financial3.6517 of 5 stars$12.94+1.9%$14.30+10.5%+1.1%$1.20B$136.41M9.18170Earnings ReportDividend AnnouncementFBRTFranklin BSP Realty Trust3.67 of 5 stars$10.82+3.2%$15.13+39.9%-12.6%$862.24M$210.45M11.04N/AHigh Trading VolumeLADRLadder Capital4.8694 of 5 stars$11.03+1.5%$12.75+15.6%-4.8%$1.39B$506.84M15.7660Positive NewsMFAMFA Financial4.2901 of 5 stars$9.18+0.5%$12.07+31.6%-20.0%$937.22M$723.97M9.36350Earnings ReportRITMRithm Capital4.1756 of 5 stars$12.19+1.2%$14.00+14.8%+9.9%$6.39B$5.21B9.386,045STWDSTARWOOD PROPERTY TRUST3.7421 of 5 stars$19.50+0.6%$21.70+11.3%+1.8%$7.11B$1.95B20.52290Positive NewsEarnings ReportAnalyst Upgrade Related Companies and Tools Related Companies Ares Commercial Real Estate Alternatives Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Alternatives BrightSpire Capital Alternatives Blackstone Mortgage Trust Alternatives Ellington Financial Alternatives Franklin BSP Realty Trust Alternatives Ladder Capital Alternatives MFA Financial Alternatives Rithm Capital Alternatives STARWOOD PROPERTY TRUST Alternatives Top 10 Stock Comparisons Semiconductor Stocks Artificial Intelligence Stocks Growth Stocks Magnificent Seven Stocks Pharmaceutical Stocks Ecommerce Stocks Bitcoin Stocks Meme Stocks Cryptocurrency Stocks Cybersecurity Stocks This page (NYSE:KREF) was last updated on 8/11/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff From Our PartnersYour blueprint for crypto wealthMark August 12th on your calendar. 27 of crypto's most successful minds are about to reveal everything…Crypto 101 Media | SponsoredTrump’s national nightmare is herePorter Stansberry and Jeff Brown say a new U.S. national emergency is already underway — and it could trigger ...Porter & Company | SponsoredHIDDEN IN THE BOOK OF GENESIS…“This land I will give to you…” — a 4,000-year-old line from Genesis may hold the key to unlocking a $150 tril...Paradigm Press | SponsoredTrump set to Boost Social Security Checks by 400%?If you're collecting or planning to collect social security... 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