Head to Head Analysis: Gladstone Land (NASDAQ:LAND) and Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY)
by Tristan Rich · The Markets DailyGladstone Land (NASDAQ:LAND – Get Free Report) and Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY – Get Free Report) are both real estate companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends and profitability.
Risk and Volatility
Gladstone Land has a beta of 1.09, suggesting that its stock price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Weyerhaeuser has a beta of 0.87, suggesting that its stock price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Gladstone Land and Weyerhaeuser”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Gladstone Land | $88.48 million | 4.60 | $13.53 million | ($0.55) | -17.15 |
| Weyerhaeuser | $6.91 billion | 2.22 | $324.00 million | $0.65 | 32.65 |
Weyerhaeuser has higher revenue and earnings than Gladstone Land. Gladstone Land is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Weyerhaeuser, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
53.6% of Gladstone Land shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.0% of Weyerhaeuser shares are held by institutional investors. 6.1% of Gladstone Land shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Weyerhaeuser shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Dividends
Gladstone Land pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.9%. Weyerhaeuser pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Gladstone Land pays out -101.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Weyerhaeuser pays out 129.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Gladstone Land has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years and Weyerhaeuser has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years. Gladstone Land is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Gladstone Land and Weyerhaeuser, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Gladstone Land | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2.25 |
| Weyerhaeuser | 0 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 2.73 |
Gladstone Land presently has a consensus price target of $10.00, suggesting a potential upside of 6.04%. Weyerhaeuser has a consensus price target of $28.67, suggesting a potential upside of 35.06%. Given Weyerhaeuser’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Weyerhaeuser is more favorable than Gladstone Land.
Profitability
This table compares Gladstone Land and Weyerhaeuser’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Gladstone Land | -7.31% | -0.96% | -0.53% |
| Weyerhaeuser | 6.89% | 1.49% | 0.85% |
Summary
Weyerhaeuser beats Gladstone Land on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Gladstone Land
Founded in 1997, Gladstone Land is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that acquires and owns farmland and farm-related properties located in major agricultural markets in the U.S. and leases its properties to unrelated third-party farmers. The Company, which reports the aggregate fair value of its farmland holdings on a quarterly basis, currently owns 169 farms, comprised of approximately 116,000 acres in 15 different states and over 45,000 acre-feet of banked water in California, valued at a total of approximately $1.6 billion. Gladstone Land’s farms are predominantly located in regions where its tenants are able to grow fresh produce annual row crops, such as berries and vegetables, which are generally planted and harvested annually. The Company also owns farms growing permanent crops, such as almonds, apples, cherries, figs, lemons, olives, pistachios, and other orchards, as well as blueberry groves and vineyards, which are generally planted every 20-plus years and harvested annually. Approximately 40% of the Company’s fresh produce acreage is either organic or in transition to become organic, and over 10% of its permanent crop acreage falls into this category. The Company may also acquire property related to farming, such as cooling facilities, processing buildings, packaging facilities, and distribution centers. Gladstone Land pays monthly distributions to its stockholders and has paid 129 consecutive monthly cash distributions on its common stock since its initial public offering in January 2013. The Company has increased its common distributions 32 times over the prior 35 quarters, and the current per-share distribution on its common stock is $0.0464 per month, or $0.5568 per year.
About Weyerhaeuser
Weyerhaeuser Company, one of the world's largest private owners of timberlands, began operations in 1900. We own or control approximately 11 million acres of timberlands in the U.S. and manage additional timberlands under long-term licenses in Canada. We manage these timberlands on a sustainable basis in compliance with internationally recognized forestry standards. We are also one of the largest manufacturers of wood products in North America. Our company is a real estate investment trust. In 2022, we generated $10.2 billion in net sales and employed approximately 9,200 people who serve customers worldwide. Our common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol WY.