AVB vs. EQR, ESS, UDR, ELS, CPT, EXR, VICI, IRM, SBAC, and ARE
Should you be buying AvalonBay Communities stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of AvalonBay Communities include Equity Residential (EQR), Essex Property Trust (ESS), UDR (UDR), Equity LifeStyle Properties (ELS), Camden Property Trust (CPT), Extra Space Storage (EXR), VICI Properties (VICI), Iron Mountain (IRM), SBA Communications (SBAC), and Alexandria Real Estate Equities (ARE). These companies are all part of the "real estate investment trusts" industry.
Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) and AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, dividends, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, community ranking, valuation, risk and institutional ownership.
92.7% of Equity Residential shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.6% of AvalonBay Communities shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Equity Residential shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of AvalonBay Communities shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Equity Residential has a beta of 0.84, indicating that its share price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AvalonBay Communities has a beta of 0.92, indicating that its share price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.
AvalonBay Communities has a net margin of 33.56% compared to AvalonBay Communities' net margin of 31.70%. AvalonBay Communities' return on equity of 8.18% beat Equity Residential's return on equity.
AvalonBay Communities received 171 more outperform votes than Equity Residential when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 61.37% of users gave AvalonBay Communities an outperform vote while only 47.95% of users gave Equity Residential an outperform vote.
AvalonBay Communities has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Equity Residential. Equity Residential is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than AvalonBay Communities, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Equity Residential currently has a consensus price target of $66.04, suggesting a potential upside of 1.38%. AvalonBay Communities has a consensus price target of $196.78, suggesting a potential upside of 2.78%. Given Equity Residential's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe AvalonBay Communities is more favorable than Equity Residential.
In the previous week, Equity Residential had 3 more articles in the media than AvalonBay Communities. MarketBeat recorded 32 mentions for Equity Residential and 29 mentions for AvalonBay Communities. AvalonBay Communities' average media sentiment score of 0.63 beat Equity Residential's score of 0.34 indicating that Equity Residential is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Equity Residential pays an annual dividend of $2.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. AvalonBay Communities pays an annual dividend of $6.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Equity Residential pays out 112.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. AvalonBay Communities pays out 103.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Equity Residential has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years and AvalonBay Communities has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Equity Residential is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Summary
AvalonBay Communities beats Equity Residential on 12 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding AVB and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Skip ChartThis chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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