AvalonBay Communities (AVB) Competitors

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) and AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, media sentiment, risk, valuation, community ranking, dividends and earnings.

Is EQR or AVB more profitable?

Equity Residential has a net margin of 31.57% compared to AvalonBay Communities' net margin of 29.61%. Equity Residential's return on equity of 8.31% beat AvalonBay Communities' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Equity Residential	31.57%	8.31%	4.61%
AvalonBay Communities	29.61%	7.16%	4.05%

Is EQR or AVB a better dividend stock?

Equity Residential pays an annual dividend of $2.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. AvalonBay Communities pays an annual dividend of $6.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Equity Residential pays out 110.7% 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 93.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

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

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 large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more risk & volatility, EQR or AVB?

Equity Residential has a beta of 0.9, suggesting that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AvalonBay Communities has a beta of 0.97, suggesting that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer EQR or AVB?

AvalonBay Communities received 170 more outperform votes than Equity Residential when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 60.50% of users gave AvalonBay Communities an outperform vote while only 47.67% of users gave Equity Residential an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Equity Residential	Outperform Votes 501 47.67%	Underperform Votes 550 52.33%
AvalonBay Communities	Outperform Votes 671 60.50%	Underperform Votes 438 39.50%

Which has better earnings and valuation, EQR or AVB?

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.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Equity Residential	$2.87B	9.40	$835.44M	$2.44	29.19
AvalonBay Communities	$2.84B	11.35	$928.83M	$7.31	31.03

Does the media refer more to EQR or AVB?

In the previous week, AvalonBay Communities had 11 more articles in the media than Equity Residential. MarketBeat recorded 28 mentions for AvalonBay Communities and 17 mentions for Equity Residential. Equity Residential's average media sentiment score of 0.62 beat AvalonBay Communities' score of 0.44 indicating that Equity Residential is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Equity Residential	9 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
AvalonBay Communities	13 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	8 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Do analysts prefer EQR or AVB?

Equity Residential currently has a consensus target price of $76.19, suggesting a potential upside of 6.98%. AvalonBay Communities has a consensus target price of $227.06, suggesting a potential upside of 0.10%. Given Equity Residential's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Equity Residential is more favorable than AvalonBay Communities.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Equity Residential	0 Sell rating(s)	12 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.37
AvalonBay Communities	0 Sell rating(s)	11 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.39

Summary

AvalonBay Communities beats Equity Residential on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.