Piedmont Office Realty Trust (PDM) Competitors

Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) and Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, risk, community ranking, valuation, institutional ownership, media sentiment, profitability and dividends.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in PDM or HIW?

Highwoods Properties received 57 more outperform votes than Piedmont Office Realty Trust when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 61.16% of users gave Highwoods Properties an outperform vote while only 51.10% of users gave Piedmont Office Realty Trust an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Piedmont Office Realty Trust	Outperform Votes 324 51.10%	Underperform Votes 310 48.90%
Highwoods Properties	Outperform Votes 381 61.16%	Underperform Votes 242 38.84%

Which has more volatility & risk, PDM or HIW?

Piedmont Office Realty Trust has a beta of 1.19, meaning that its share price is 19% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Highwoods Properties has a beta of 1.24, meaning that its share price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has better earnings & valuation, PDM or HIW?

Highwoods Properties has higher revenue and earnings than Piedmont Office Realty Trust. Piedmont Office Realty Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Highwoods Properties, 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
Piedmont Office Realty Trust	$570.32M	1.54	-$79.07M	-$0.63	-11.21
Highwoods Properties	$825.86M	3.81	$102.25M	$0.95	30.76

Do analysts prefer PDM or HIW?

Piedmont Office Realty Trust currently has a consensus target price of $11.00, indicating a potential upside of 55.70%. Highwoods Properties has a consensus target price of $30.71, indicating a potential upside of 5.11%. Given Piedmont Office Realty Trust's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Piedmont Office Realty Trust is more favorable than Highwoods Properties.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Piedmont Office Realty Trust	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33
Highwoods Properties	1 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Is PDM or HIW a better dividend stock?

Piedmont Office Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.1%. Highwoods Properties pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.8%. Piedmont Office Realty Trust pays out -79.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Highwoods Properties pays out 210.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Piedmont Office Realty Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in PDM or HIW?

84.5% of Piedmont Office Realty Trust shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.3% of Highwoods Properties shares are held by institutional investors. 1.3% of Piedmont Office Realty Trust shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of Highwoods Properties shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is PDM or HIW more profitable?

Highwoods Properties has a net margin of 12.37% compared to Piedmont Office Realty Trust's net margin of -13.86%. Highwoods Properties' return on equity of 4.33% beat Piedmont Office Realty Trust's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Piedmont Office Realty Trust	-13.86%	-4.77%	-1.93%
Highwoods Properties	12.37%	4.33%	1.70%

Does the media prefer PDM or HIW?

In the previous week, Piedmont Office Realty Trust and Piedmont Office Realty Trust both had 7 articles in the media. Piedmont Office Realty Trust's average media sentiment score of 1.13 beat Highwoods Properties' score of 0.89 indicating that Piedmont Office Realty Trust is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Piedmont Office Realty Trust	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Highwoods Properties	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Highwoods Properties beats Piedmont Office Realty Trust on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.