American Homes 4 Rent (AMH) Competitors

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) and American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, dividends, media sentiment, profitability, risk, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, AVB or AMH?

AvalonBay Communities has higher revenue and earnings than American Homes 4 Rent. AvalonBay Communities is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than American Homes 4 Rent, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AvalonBay Communities	$2.95B	9.76	$1.08B	$8.03	25.15
American Homes 4 Rent	$1.73B	7.71	$412.43M	$1.08	33.36

Does the media prefer AVB or AMH?

In the previous week, AvalonBay Communities had 10 more articles in the media than American Homes 4 Rent. MarketBeat recorded 19 mentions for AvalonBay Communities and 9 mentions for American Homes 4 Rent. American Homes 4 Rent's average media sentiment score of 1.55 beat AvalonBay Communities' score of 0.94 indicating that American Homes 4 Rent is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
AvalonBay Communities	9 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	8 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
American Homes 4 Rent	7 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in AVB or AMH?

92.6% of AvalonBay Communities shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.9% of American Homes 4 Rent shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of AvalonBay Communities shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 6.0% of American Homes 4 Rent shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is AVB or AMH a better dividend stock?

AvalonBay Communities pays an annual dividend of $7.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. American Homes 4 Rent pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. AvalonBay Communities pays out 87.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. American Homes 4 Rent pays out 111.1% 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 has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years and American Homes 4 Rent has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years. AvalonBay Communities is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do analysts prefer AVB or AMH?

AvalonBay Communities presently has a consensus price target of $235.07, suggesting a potential upside of 16.40%. American Homes 4 Rent has a consensus price target of $40.90, suggesting a potential upside of 13.52%. Given AvalonBay Communities' higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe AvalonBay Communities is more favorable than American Homes 4 Rent.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AvalonBay Communities	0 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.47
American Homes 4 Rent	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.53

Which has more volatility & risk, AVB or AMH?

AvalonBay Communities has a beta of 0.85, indicating that its stock price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Homes 4 Rent has a beta of 0.74, indicating that its stock price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is AVB or AMH more profitable?

AvalonBay Communities has a net margin of 38.86% compared to American Homes 4 Rent's net margin of 23.41%. AvalonBay Communities' return on equity of 9.65% beat American Homes 4 Rent's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AvalonBay Communities	38.86%	9.65%	5.42%
American Homes 4 Rent	23.41%	5.45%	3.21%

Summary

AvalonBay Communities beats American Homes 4 Rent on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.