Piedmont Realty Trust (PDM) Competitors

Piedmont Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) and American Assets Trust (NYSE:AAT) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, valuation, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations and media sentiment.

Which has more risk & volatility, PDM or AAT?

Piedmont Realty Trust has a beta of 1.46, meaning that its share price is 46% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Assets Trust has a beta of 1.17, meaning that its share price is 17% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor PDM or AAT?

In the previous week, American Assets Trust had 3 more articles in the media than Piedmont Realty Trust. MarketBeat recorded 15 mentions for American Assets Trust and 12 mentions for Piedmont Realty Trust. American Assets Trust's average media sentiment score of 1.49 beat Piedmont Realty Trust's score of 1.15 indicating that American Assets Trust is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Piedmont Realty Trust	9 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
American Assets Trust	10 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts recommend PDM or AAT?

Piedmont Realty Trust currently has a consensus price target of $8.67, suggesting a potential upside of 18.56%. American Assets Trust has a consensus price target of $21.00, suggesting a potential upside of 12.33%. Given Piedmont Realty Trust's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Piedmont Realty Trust is more favorable than American Assets Trust.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Piedmont Realty Trust	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25
American Assets Trust	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, PDM or AAT?

American Assets Trust has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Piedmont Realty Trust. Piedmont Realty Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than American Assets Trust, 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 Realty Trust	$570.32M	1.60	-$79.06M	-$0.55	-13.29
American Assets Trust	$457.86M	2.50	$72.82M	$1.27	14.72

Is PDM or AAT more profitable?

American Assets Trust has a net margin of 16.26% compared to Piedmont Realty Trust's net margin of -12.10%. American Assets Trust's return on equity of 6.47% beat Piedmont Realty Trust's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Piedmont Realty Trust	-12.10%	-4.32%	-1.69%
American Assets Trust	16.26%	6.47%	2.34%

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of PDM or AAT?

84.5% of Piedmont Realty Trust shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.4% of American Assets Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 1.3% of Piedmont Realty Trust shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 36.8% of American Assets Trust shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

American Assets Trust beats Piedmont Realty Trust on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.