Contrasting JBG SMITH Properties (NYSE:JBGS) & Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust (NASDAQ:WHLR)

JBG SMITH Properties (NYSE:JBGS) and Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust (NASDAQ:WHLR) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation and earnings.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

98.5% of JBG SMITH Properties shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 35.3% of Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.7% of JBG SMITH Properties shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 40.6% of Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for JBG SMITH Properties and Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
JBG SMITH Properties	1	0	0	0	1.00
Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust	0	0	0	0	N/A

JBG SMITH Properties presently has a consensus target price of $14.50, indicating a potential upside of 3.53%. Given JBG SMITH Properties’ higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe JBG SMITH Properties is more favorable than Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust.

Volatility and Risk

JBG SMITH Properties has a beta of 1.07, suggesting that its stock price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust has a beta of 1.58, suggesting that its stock price is 58% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares JBG SMITH Properties and Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust’s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
JBG SMITH Properties	$596.42 million	2.16	-$79.98 million	($1.39)	-10.08
Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust	$102.32 million	0.05	-$4.69 million	($891.61)	0.00

Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust has lower revenue, but higher earnings than JBG SMITH Properties. JBG SMITH Properties is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares JBG SMITH Properties and Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
JBG SMITH Properties	-22.37%	-5.66%	-2.39%
Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust	-10.08%	N/A	-1.54%

Summary

Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust beats JBG SMITH Properties on 6 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About JBG SMITH Properties

JBG SMITH owns, operates, invests in, and develops mixed-use properties in high growth and high barrier-to-entry submarkets in and around Washington, DC, most notably National Landing. Through an intense focus on placemaking, JBG SMITH cultivates vibrant, amenity-rich, walkable neighborhoods throughout the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Approximately 75.0% of JBG SMITH's holdings are in the National Landing submarket in Northern Virginia, which is anchored by four key demand drivers: Amazon's new headquarters; Virginia Tech's under-construction $1 billion Innovation Campus; the submarket's proximity to the Pentagon; and JBG SMITH's deployment of 5G digital infrastructure. JBG SMITH's dynamic portfolio currently comprises 14.2 million square feet of high-growth office, multifamily, and retail assets at share, 99% of which are Metro-served. It also maintains a development pipeline encompassing 8.8 million square feet of mixed-use, primarily multifamily, development opportunities. JBG SMITH is committed to the operation and development of green, smart, and healthy buildings and plans to maintain carbon neutral operations annually.

About Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust

Headquartered in Virginia Beach, Virginia, Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust, Inc. is a fully integrated, self-managed commercial real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on owning and operating income-producing retail properties with a primary focus on grocery-anchored centers.