Service Properties Trust (NASDAQ:SVC) and Sotherly Hotels (NASDAQ:SOHON) Head-To-Head Contrast

Service Properties Trust (NASDAQ:SVC) and Sotherly Hotels (NASDAQ:SOHON) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for Service Properties Trust and Sotherly Hotels, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Service Properties Trust	1	1	0	0	1.50
Sotherly Hotels	0	0	0	0	N/A

Service Properties Trust currently has a consensus target price of $9.67, suggesting a potential upside of 23.30%. Given Service Properties Trust’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Service Properties Trust is more favorable than Sotherly Hotels.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Service Properties Trust and Sotherly Hotels’ revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Service Properties Trust	$1.86 billion	0.70	-$132.38 million	($0.05)	-156.77
Sotherly Hotels	$173.06 million	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Sotherly Hotels has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Service Properties Trust.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

78.2% of Service Properties Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.4% of Service Properties Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Service Properties Trust and Sotherly Hotels’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Service Properties Trust	-0.49%	-0.66%	-0.12%
Sotherly Hotels	N/A	N/A	N/A

Dividends

Service Properties Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.2%. Sotherly Hotels pays an annual dividend of $2.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.7%. Service Properties Trust pays out -1,599.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Service Properties Trust has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Service Properties Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Service Properties Trust beats Sotherly Hotels on 7 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Service Properties Trust

Service Properties Trust (Nasdaq: SVC) is a real estate investment trust, or REIT, with over $11 billion invested in two asset categories: hotels and service-focused retail net lease properties. As of June 30, 2023, SVC owned 221 hotels with over 37,000 guest rooms throughout the United States and in Puerto Rico and Canada, the majority of which are extended stay and select service. As of June 30, 2023, SVC also owned 763 retail service-focused net lease properties totaling approximately 13.5 million square feet throughout the United States. SVC is managed by The RMR Group (Nasdaq: RMR), a leading U.S. alternative asset management company with approximately $36 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2023, and more than 35 years of institutional experience in buying, selling, financing and operating commercial real estate. SVC is headquartered in Newton, MA.

About Sotherly Hotels

Sotherly Hotels Inc. is a self-managed and self-administered lodging REIT focused on the acquisition, renovation, upbranding and repositioning of upscale to upper-upscale full-service hotels in the Southern United States. Sotherly may also opportunistically acquire hotels throughout the United States. Currently, the Company's portfolio consists of investments in ten hotel properties, comprising 2,786 rooms, as well as interests in two condominium hotels and their associated rental programs. The Company owns hotels that operate under the Hilton Worldwide and Hyatt Hotels Corporation brands, as well as independent hotels. Sotherly Hotels Inc. was organized in 2004 and is headquartered in Williamsburg, Virginia.