Ventas (VTR) Competitors

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) and American Tower (NYSE:AMT) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, dividends, valuation and community ranking.

Do institutionals & insiders believe in VTR or AMT?

94.2% of Ventas shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.7% of American Tower shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of Ventas shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of American Tower shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in VTR or AMT?

American Tower received 460 more outperform votes than Ventas when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 75.39% of users gave American Tower an outperform vote while only 56.24% of users gave Ventas an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Ventas	Outperform Votes 563 56.24%	Underperform Votes 438 43.76%
American Tower	Outperform Votes 1023 75.39%	Underperform Votes 334 24.61%

Which has higher valuation and earnings, VTR or AMT?

American Tower has higher revenue and earnings than Ventas. American Tower is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ventas, 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
Ventas	$5.08B	5.78	$81.15M	$0.33	197.30
American Tower	$10.18B	9.91	$1.48B	$3.89	55.38

Is VTR or AMT more profitable?

American Tower has a net margin of 10.05% compared to Ventas' net margin of 1.65%. American Tower's return on equity of 22.01% beat Ventas' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ventas	1.65%	0.82%	0.32%
American Tower	10.05%	22.01%	3.55%

Does the media refer more to VTR or AMT?

In the previous week, American Tower had 19 more articles in the media than Ventas. MarketBeat recorded 44 mentions for American Tower and 25 mentions for Ventas. American Tower's average media sentiment score of 1.43 beat Ventas' score of 1.23 indicating that American Tower is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Ventas	18 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
American Tower	34 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts prefer VTR or AMT?

Ventas currently has a consensus price target of $73.00, indicating a potential upside of 12.12%. American Tower has a consensus price target of $240.25, indicating a potential upside of 11.52%. Given Ventas' higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Ventas is more favorable than American Tower.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ventas	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.92
American Tower	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	14 Buy rating(s)	3 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.11

Which has more risk & volatility, VTR or AMT?

Ventas has a beta of 0.95, meaning that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Tower has a beta of 0.86, meaning that its share price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is VTR or AMT a better dividend stock?

Ventas pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. American Tower pays an annual dividend of $6.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Ventas pays out 581.8% 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 Tower pays out 174.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Ventas has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years and American Tower has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. American Tower is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

American Tower beats Ventas on 16 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.