Analyzing AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) and American Healthcare REIT (NYSE:AHR)

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) and American Healthcare REIT (NYSE:AHR) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability and risk.

Profitability

This table compares AGNC Investment and American Healthcare REIT’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AGNC Investment	29.26%	21.92%	2.00%
American Healthcare REIT	-1.84%	-1.87%	-0.80%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares AGNC Investment and American Healthcare REIT”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AGNC Investment	$973.00 million	9.58	$863.00 million	$0.97	10.85
American Healthcare REIT	$1.87 billion	2.37	-$71.47 million	($0.48)	-60.20

AGNC Investment has higher earnings, but lower revenue than American Healthcare REIT. American Healthcare REIT is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than AGNC Investment, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

38.3% of AGNC Investment shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 16.7% of American Healthcare REIT shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of AGNC Investment shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of American Healthcare REIT shares are held by company 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.

Dividends

AGNC Investment pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 13.7%. American Healthcare REIT pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. AGNC Investment pays out 148.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. American Healthcare REIT pays out -208.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for AGNC Investment and American Healthcare REIT, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AGNC Investment	0	3	7	0	2.70
American Healthcare REIT	0	1	7	0	2.88

AGNC Investment currently has a consensus target price of $10.50, indicating a potential downside of 0.24%. American Healthcare REIT has a consensus target price of $26.00, indicating a potential downside of 10.02%. Given AGNC Investment’s higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe AGNC Investment is more favorable than American Healthcare REIT.

Summary

AGNC Investment beats American Healthcare REIT on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About AGNC Investment

AGNC Investment Corp., formerly American Capital Agency Corp., is a real estate investment trust. The Company invests in agency residential mortgage-backed securities on a leveraged basis. Its investments consist of residential mortgage pass-through securities and collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs) for which the principal and interest payments are guaranteed by a government-sponsored enterprise, such as the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), or by the United States Government agency, such as the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae) (collectively, GSEs). Its agency securities include agency residential mortgage-backed securities (Agency RMBS) and to-be-announced forward contracts (TBAs). Its Non-Agency Securities include credit risk transfer securities (CRT), non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities (Non-Agency RMBS) and commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS).

About American Healthcare REIT

Formed by the successful merger of Griffin-American Healthcare REIT III and Griffin-American Healthcare REIT IV, as well as the acquisition of the business and operations of American Healthcare Investors, American Healthcare REIT is one of the larger healthcare-focused real estate investment trusts globally with assets totaling approximately $4.2 billion in gross investment value. The company benefits from a fully integrated management platform comprised of more than one hundred experienced and skilled professionals, many of whom have worked together since 2006 and have successfully invested in and managed healthcare real estate through multiple market cycles. The management team has a proven track record, deep industry relationships and unparalleled insight into each of the company's assets having built and nurtured the company's international portfolio since its original property acquisition in 2014. The strength of the management team, coupled with the quality of the assets, has American Healthcare REIT poised to capitalize on compelling growth driven by powerful demographic trends. With its 19 million-square-foot, 312-building portfolio of medical office buildings, senior housing communities, skilled nursing facilities and integrated senior health campuses diversified across 36 states and the United Kingdom, the tri-party transaction was a critical step in ideally positioning American Healthcare REIT for a future public listing or IPO on a national stock exchange at the most opportune time. By listing the company's shares on a national exchange, we believe the company will gain greater access to attractive capital that will fuel future growth, broaden our investor base and also provide liquidity to our fellow stockholders. American Healthcare REIT, Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Griffin Capital Company, LLC.