Sunstone Hotel Investors (SHO) Competitors

Sunstone Hotel Investors (NYSE:SHO) and Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, profitability, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership and dividends.

Do analysts prefer SHO or HST?

Sunstone Hotel Investors currently has a consensus target price of $8.93, suggesting a potential downside of 3.27%. Host Hotels & Resorts has a consensus target price of $17.88, suggesting a potential upside of 7.55%. Given Host Hotels & Resorts' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Host Hotels & Resorts is more favorable than Sunstone Hotel Investors.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sunstone Hotel Investors	2 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Host Hotels & Resorts	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.46

Which has more risk & volatility, SHO or HST?

Sunstone Hotel Investors has a beta of 1.29, suggesting that its share price is 29% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Host Hotels & Resorts has a beta of 1.36, suggesting that its share price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in SHO or HST?

99.4% of Sunstone Hotel Investors shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.5% of Host Hotels & Resorts shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of Sunstone Hotel Investors shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of Host Hotels & Resorts shares are owned by company 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.

Is SHO or HST a better dividend stock?

Sunstone Hotel Investors pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Host Hotels & Resorts pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.8%. Sunstone Hotel Investors pays out 1,800.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Host Hotels & Resorts pays out 85.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Sunstone Hotel Investors has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years and Host Hotels & Resorts has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Host Hotels & Resorts is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the media prefer SHO or HST?

In the previous week, Host Hotels & Resorts had 15 more articles in the media than Sunstone Hotel Investors. MarketBeat recorded 15 mentions for Host Hotels & Resorts and 0 mentions for Sunstone Hotel Investors. Host Hotels & Resorts' average media sentiment score of 1.26 beat Sunstone Hotel Investors' score of 0.99 indicating that Host Hotels & Resorts is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Sunstone Hotel Investors	Positive
Host Hotels & Resorts	Positive

Is SHO or HST more profitable?

Host Hotels & Resorts has a net margin of 11.12% compared to Sunstone Hotel Investors' net margin of 2.15%. Host Hotels & Resorts' return on equity of 9.90% beat Sunstone Hotel Investors' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sunstone Hotel Investors	2.15%	1.12%	0.65%
Host Hotels & Resorts	11.12%	9.90%	5.07%

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, SHO or HST?

Host Hotels & Resorts has higher revenue and earnings than Sunstone Hotel Investors. Host Hotels & Resorts is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Sunstone Hotel Investors, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sunstone Hotel Investors	$905.81M	1.94	$43.26M	$0.02	461.50
Host Hotels & Resorts	$5.68B	2.01	$697M	$0.94	17.68

Summary

Host Hotels & Resorts beats Sunstone Hotel Investors on 16 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.