AvalonBay Communities (AVB) Competitors

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

Does the MarketBeat Community favor EQR or AVB?

AvalonBay Communities received 171 more outperform votes than Equity Residential when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 60.27% of users gave AvalonBay Communities an outperform vote while only 47.41% of users gave Equity Residential an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Equity Residential	Outperform Votes 504 47.41%	Underperform Votes 559 52.59%
AvalonBay Communities	Outperform Votes 675 60.27%	Underperform Votes 445 39.73%

Is EQR or AVB more profitable?

AvalonBay Communities has a net margin of 37.13% compared to Equity Residential's net margin of 34.76%. Equity Residential's return on equity of 9.27% beat AvalonBay Communities' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Equity Residential	34.76%	9.27%	5.09%
AvalonBay Communities	37.13%	9.15%	5.15%

Do analysts rate EQR or AVB?

Equity Residential currently has a consensus target price of $78.42, suggesting a potential upside of 9.59%. AvalonBay Communities has a consensus target price of $235.47, suggesting a potential upside of 7.63%. Given Equity Residential's higher possible upside, equities research 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)	10 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.47
AvalonBay Communities	0 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

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

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 $7.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Equity Residential pays out 99.3% 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 92.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Which has more risk and volatility, EQR or AVB?

Equity Residential has a beta of 0.93, meaning that its stock price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AvalonBay Communities has a beta of 0.99, meaning that its stock price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, 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	$2.98B	9.12	$1.04B	$2.72	26.31
AvalonBay Communities	$2.91B	10.68	$1.08B	$7.59	28.82

Does the media prefer EQR or AVB?

In the previous week, AvalonBay Communities had 2 more articles in the media than Equity Residential. MarketBeat recorded 17 mentions for AvalonBay Communities and 15 mentions for Equity Residential. Equity Residential's average media sentiment score of 0.77 beat AvalonBay Communities' score of 0.54 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	8 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
AvalonBay Communities	9 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

AvalonBay Communities beats Equity Residential on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.