Better Buy: Innovative Industrial or W.P. Carey?

A look at the performance of W.P. Carey's (NYSE: WPC) stock as compared to Innovative Industrial Properties (NYSE: IIPR) can tell investors a lot. W.P. Carey's long-term consistency will probably be more attractive for conservative dividend investors, despite a recent dividend cut announcement. But here's a deeper look at the numbers to back that up.

Over the past 12 months, W.P. Carey's stock is down roughly 25% or so. Innovative Industrial's shares are off by about 20%. Here's the thing: The two real estate investment trusts (REITs) were both down by around the same amount until W.P. Carey announced that it was spinning off its office portfolio (and selling the offices that don't get spun off) and cutting its dividend. Unsurprisingly, investors reacted poorly to the news.