Critical Contrast: COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) vs. Sun Communities (NYSE:SUI)

Sun Communities (NYSE:SUI) and COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, valuation and dividends.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

99.6% of Sun Communities shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.9% of Sun Communities shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of COPT Defense Properties shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

Sun Communities has a beta of 0.83, meaning that its stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, COPT Defense Properties has a beta of 0.92, meaning that its stock price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Sun Communities and COPT Defense Properties, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sun Communities	0	5	6	0	2.55
COPT Defense Properties	0	3	4	0	2.57

Sun Communities presently has a consensus price target of $138.92, suggesting a potential upside of 19.02%. COPT Defense Properties has a consensus price target of $27.00, suggesting a potential upside of 9.62%. Given Sun Communities’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Sun Communities is more favorable than COPT Defense Properties.

Profitability

This table compares Sun Communities and COPT Defense Properties’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sun Communities	4.46%	1.87%	0.84%
COPT Defense Properties	-16.83%	-7.53%	-2.82%

Dividends

Sun Communities pays an annual dividend of $3.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. COPT Defense Properties pays an annual dividend of $1.18 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.8%. Sun Communities pays out 324.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. COPT Defense Properties pays out -109.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Sun Communities has raised its dividend for 8 consecutive years. COPT Defense Properties is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Sun Communities and COPT Defense Properties’ top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sun Communities	$3.22 billion	4.51	-$201.00 million	$1.16	100.62
COPT Defense Properties	$684.98 million	4.05	-$73.47 million	($1.08)	-22.81

COPT Defense Properties has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Sun Communities. COPT Defense Properties is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Sun Communities, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Sun Communities beats COPT Defense Properties on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sun Communities

Established in 1975, Sun Communities, Inc. became a publicly owned corporation in December 1993. The Company is a fully integrated REIT listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol: SUI. As of December 31, 2023, the Company owned, operated, or had an interest in a portfolio of 667 developed MH, RV and Marina properties comprising 179,310 developed sites and approximately 48,030 wet slips and dry storage spaces in the U.S., the UK and Canada.

About COPT Defense Properties

COPT Defense, an S&P MidCap 400 Company, is a self-managed REIT focused on owning, operating and developing properties in locations proximate to, or sometimes containing, key U.S. Government (USG) defense installations and missions (referred to as its Defense/IT Portfolio). The Company's tenants include the USG and their defense contractors, who are primarily engaged in priority national security activities, and who generally require mission-critical and high security property enhancements. As of December 31, 2023, the Company's Defense/IT Portfolio of 190 properties, including 24 owned through unconsolidated joint ventures, encompassed 21.7 million square feet and was 97.2% leased.