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 better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, community ranking, media sentiment, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Which has higher earnings and 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	1.57	-$79.07M	-$0.63	-11.45
Highwoods Properties	$825.86M	3.78	$102.25M	$0.95	30.57

Do institutionals and insiders believe 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 insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of Highwoods Properties shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

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 6.9%. Highwoods Properties pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.9%. 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.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer PDM or HIW?

Highwoods Properties received 57 more outperform votes than Piedmont Office Realty Trust when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 61.02% 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 325 51.10%	Underperform Votes 311 48.90%
Highwoods Properties	Outperform Votes 382 61.02%	Underperform Votes 244 38.98%

Does the media prefer PDM or HIW?

In the previous week, Highwoods Properties had 3 more articles in the media than Piedmont Office Realty Trust. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for Highwoods Properties and 3 mentions for Piedmont Office Realty Trust. Piedmont Office Realty Trust's average media sentiment score of 1.86 beat Highwoods Properties' score of 1.40 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	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Highwoods Properties	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts recommend PDM or HIW?

Piedmont Office Realty Trust presently has a consensus price target of $9.50, indicating a potential upside of 31.67%. Highwoods Properties has a consensus price target of $32.50, indicating a potential upside of 11.90%. Given Piedmont Office Realty Trust's higher probable upside, research analysts plainly 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	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33

Which has more volatility & risk, PDM or HIW?

Piedmont Office Realty Trust has a beta of 1.25, suggesting that its stock price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Highwoods Properties has a beta of 1.25, suggesting that its stock price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500.

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%	-4.82%	-1.93%
Highwoods Properties	12.37%	4.33%	1.70%

Summary

Highwoods Properties beats Piedmont Office Realty Trust on 14 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.