Financial Comparison: Simon Property Group (NYSE:SPG) & W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC)

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) and Simon Property Group (NYSE:SPG) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends and profitability.

Volatility and Risk

W. P. Carey has a beta of 0.81, meaning that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Simon Property Group has a beta of 1.45, meaning that its share price is 45% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

73.7% of W. P. Carey shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.0% of Simon Property Group shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of W. P. Carey shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 8.5% of Simon Property Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares W. P. Carey and Simon Property Group”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
W. P. Carey	$1.58 billion	8.17	$460.84 million	$2.09	28.27
Simon Property Group	$5.96 billion	8.00	$2.37 billion	$7.26	20.13

Simon Property Group has higher revenue and earnings than W. P. Carey. Simon Property Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than W. P. Carey, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

W. P. Carey pays an annual dividend of $3.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.0%. Simon Property Group pays an annual dividend of $8.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.7%. W. P. Carey pays out 170.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Simon Property Group pays out 115.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Profitability

This table compares W. P. Carey and Simon Property Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
W. P. Carey	29.11%	5.37%	2.61%
Simon Property Group	41.49%	74.02%	7.46%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for W. P. Carey and Simon Property Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
W. P. Carey	1	5	3	0	2.22
Simon Property Group	0	5	4	0	2.44

W. P. Carey currently has a consensus price target of $63.75, indicating a potential upside of 7.91%. Simon Property Group has a consensus price target of $180.33, indicating a potential upside of 23.39%. Given Simon Property Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Simon Property Group is more favorable than W. P. Carey.

Summary

Simon Property Group beats W. P. Carey on 13 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About W. P. Carey

W. P. Carey ranks among the largest net lease REITs with a well-diversified portfolio of high-quality, operationally critical commercial real estate, which includes 1,424 net lease properties covering approximately 173 million square feet and a portfolio of 89 self-storage operating properties as of December 31, 2023. With offices in New York, London, Amsterdam and Dallas, the company remains focused on investing primarily in single-tenant, industrial, warehouse and retail properties located in the U.S. and Northern and Western Europe, under long-term net leases with built-in rent escalations.

About Simon Property Group

Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG) is a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT). Simon Property Group, L.P., or the Operating Partnership, is our majority-owned partnership subsidiary that owns all of our real estate properties and other assets. In this package, the terms Simon, we, our, or the Company refer to Simon Property Group, Inc., the Operating Partnership, and its subsidiaries. We own, develop and manage premier shopping, dining, entertainment and mixed-use destinations, which consist primarily of malls, Premium Outlets, The Mills, and International Properties. At June 30, 2024, we owned or had an interest in 230 properties comprising 183 million square feet in North America, Asia and Europe. We also owned an 84% interest in The Taubman Realty Group, or TRG, which owns 22 regional, super-regional, and outlet malls in the U.S. and Asia. Additionally, at June 30, 2024, we had a 22.4% ownership interest in Klépierre, a publicly traded, Paris-based real estate company, which owns shopping centers in 14 European countries.