Head to Head Comparison: Saul Centers (NYSE:BFS) vs. Mercialys (OTCMKTS:MEIYF)

Mercialys (OTCMKTS:MEIYF) and Saul Centers (NYSE:BFS) are both real estate companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, risk, earnings, valuation and institutional ownership.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

19.3% of Mercialys shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 50.0% of Saul Centers shares are owned by institutional investors. 56.6% of Saul Centers shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for Mercialys and Saul Centers, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mercialys	0	0	0	0	N/A
Saul Centers	0	0	1	0	3.00

Saul Centers has a consensus price target of $43.50, suggesting a potential upside of 11.77%. Given Saul Centers’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Saul Centers is more favorable than Mercialys.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Mercialys and Saul Centers’ top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mercialys	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Saul Centers	$264.08 million	3.53	$52.69 million	$1.73	22.50

Saul Centers has higher revenue and earnings than Mercialys.

Profitability

This table compares Mercialys and Saul Centers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mercialys	N/A	N/A	N/A
Saul Centers	20.49%	16.65%	2.71%

Summary

Saul Centers beats Mercialys on 8 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Mercialys

Mercialys is one of France's leading real estate companies. It is specialized in the holding, management and transformation of retail spaces, anticipating consumer trends, on its own behalf and for third parties. At December 31, 2023, Mercialys had a real estate portfolio valued at Euro 2.9 billion (including transfer taxes). Its portfolio of 2,038 leases represents an annualized rental base of Euro 175.5 million. Mercialys has been listed on the stock market since October 12, 2005 (ticker: MERY) and has SIIC real estate investment trust (REIT) tax status. Part of the SBF 120 and Euronext Paris Compartment B, it had 93,886,501 shares outstanding at December 31, 2023.

About Saul Centers

Saul Centers is a self-managed, self-administered equity REIT headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland. Saul Centers currently operates and manages a real estate portfolio comprised of 61 properties that includes (a) 57 community and neighborhood Shopping Centers and Mixed-Use properties with approximately 9.8 million square feet of leasable area and (b) four land and development properties. Over 85% of the Company’s property operating income is generated from properties in the metropolitan Washington, DC/Baltimore area.