Saul Centers (BFS) Competitors

Saul Centers (NYSE:BFS) and Retail Opportunity Investments (NASDAQ:ROIC) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, media sentiment, profitability, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk and community ranking.

Which has better earnings and valuation, BFS or ROIC?

Saul Centers has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Retail Opportunity Investments. Saul Centers is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Retail Opportunity Investments, 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
Saul Centers	$268.85M	2.95	$52.69M	$1.63	20.09
Retail Opportunity Investments	$327.73M	6.89	$34.53M	$0.46	38.07

Do analysts recommend BFS or ROIC?

Saul Centers presently has a consensus target price of $45.50, indicating a potential upside of 38.93%. Retail Opportunity Investments has a consensus target price of $16.20, indicating a potential downside of 7.48%. Given Saul Centers' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Saul Centers is more favorable than Retail Opportunity Investments.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Saul Centers	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Retail Opportunity Investments	1 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.86

Is BFS or ROIC more profitable?

Saul Centers has a net margin of 20.84% compared to Retail Opportunity Investments' net margin of 17.38%. Saul Centers' return on equity of 17.16% beat Retail Opportunity Investments' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Saul Centers	20.84%	17.16%	2.72%
Retail Opportunity Investments	17.38%	4.32%	1.96%

Do institutionals and insiders believe in BFS or ROIC?

50.0% of Saul Centers shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.2% of Retail Opportunity Investments shares are held by institutional investors. 56.6% of Saul Centers shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.0% of Retail Opportunity Investments shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media refer more to BFS or ROIC?

In the previous week, Saul Centers had 1 more articles in the media than Retail Opportunity Investments. MarketBeat recorded 2 mentions for Saul Centers and 1 mentions for Retail Opportunity Investments. Retail Opportunity Investments' average media sentiment score of 0.91 beat Saul Centers' score of 0.37 indicating that Retail Opportunity Investments is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Saul Centers	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Retail Opportunity Investments	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in BFS or ROIC?

Retail Opportunity Investments received 68 more outperform votes than Saul Centers when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 53.85% of users gave Saul Centers an outperform vote while only 52.49% of users gave Retail Opportunity Investments an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Saul Centers	Outperform Votes 259 53.85%	Underperform Votes 222 46.15%
Retail Opportunity Investments	Outperform Votes 327 52.49%	Underperform Votes 296 47.51%

Which has more risk & volatility, BFS or ROIC?

Saul Centers has a beta of 0.97, meaning that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Retail Opportunity Investments has a beta of 1.45, meaning that its stock price is 45% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is BFS or ROIC a better dividend stock?

Saul Centers pays an annual dividend of $2.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.2%. Retail Opportunity Investments pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Saul Centers pays out 144.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Retail Opportunity Investments pays out 130.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Summary

Saul Centers beats Retail Opportunity Investments on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.