ADC vs CURB: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of October 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

Reading it: ADC is the cheaper of the two on forward earnings, but cheaper is not the same as better. Pair the valuation with growth (how far the forward P/E sits below the trailing P/E) and risk (beta) before you decide.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. ADC and CURB share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined ADC and CURB exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

Agree Realty Corporation (NYSE: ADC) is a real estate investment trust that acquires and develops freestanding, single-tenant retail properties net-leased to national and regional chains. Under net leases, tenants cover most property costs (taxes, insurance, and maintenance), which gives the REIT predictable rent streams and thin operating overhead. As of the end of 2025 the portfolio held roughly 2,674 properties across all 50 states, totaling about 55.5 million square feet, and was effectively fully leased at 99.7% occupancy. Investment-grade retailers generated close to 67% of annualized base rent, with top tenants including Walmart, Tractor Supply, Dollar General, Best Buy, and TJX, tilting the rent roll toward defensive, needs-based retail.

Full ADC guide

Curbline Properties (NYSE: CURB) owns and operates convenience shopping centers, the small unanchored strip properties positioned on the curbline of high-traffic roads in affluent, high-household-income suburban submarkets. It became an independent public company on October 1, 2024, when SITE Centers spun it off and gave SITE shareholders two CURB shares for every SITE share. Curbline calls itself the first and only publicly traded REIT focused exclusively on convenience assets, a fragmented category historically owned by private operators, which management frames as a large runway to consolidate.

Full CURB guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• ADC drivers: External growth engine; Investment-grade, defensive tenant base.
• CURB drivers: Acquisition machine, now partly funded with debt and equity; First-mover in a fragmented niche.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: Interest-rate sensitivity is the dominant risk, since higher rates lift Agree's borrowing costs and make its dividend yield less competitive versus bonds, which can pressure the share price. For CURB, as a young spun-off company, Curbline has a short standalone track record and is heavily dependent on continuing to source acquisitions at attractive cap rates; if deal pricing tightens or capital gets more expensive, external growth could slow sharply.

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick ADC if you believe its drivers more; CURB if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the ADC and CURB guides.

ADC. At about $66.78 a share, ADC trades near 14.6x the midpoint of its initial 2026 AFFO guidance, down from the high-teens multiple it carried earlier in the year, while the GAAP P/E of roughly 36x mostly reflects depreciation. The yield has climbed to about 4.9% as the stock fell and the dividend rose. The third-quarter report on October 20, 2026 is the next test of whether acquisition volume is still converting into per-share growth.

CURB. Curbline is valued as a growth REIT rather than a yield play: a market cap near $3.0 billion against about $224 million of TTM revenue, a price-to-sales ratio near 13.5, and a GAAP P/E that looks inflated because depreciation from rapid buying depresses net income. Price relative to FFO and the durability of acquisition-driven growth remain the main lens, and with debt now on the balance sheet, enterprise value sits above equity value for the first time. The October 22 Q3 report (consensus EPS about $0.07, revenue about $66 million) is the next checkpoint.

Headline figures (approximate, October 2026): ADC shows revenue (ttm) ~$780M (+17% YoY latest qtr), net income (ttm) ~$217M (EPS ~$1.86), operating margin ~48%, p/e (trailing / forward) ~36x / ~35x; CURB shows market cap ~$3.0B, revenue (ttm) ~$224M (Q2 2026 up ~53% YoY), net income (ttm) ~$29M (profit margin ~13%), p/e (trailing / forward) ~95x / ~71x.

ADC and CURB are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined ADC and CURB exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.