AvalonBay Communities (AVB) Competitors

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

Which has more risk & volatility, AVB or EQR?

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

Which has higher valuation and earnings, AVB or EQR?

AvalonBay Communities has higher revenue and 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
AvalonBay Communities	$2.88B	11.28	$928.83M	$7.31	31.21
Equity Residential	$2.87B	9.76	$835.44M	$2.44	30.30

Is AVB or EQR a better dividend stock?

AvalonBay Communities pays an annual dividend of $6.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Equity Residential pays an annual dividend of $2.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. 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. 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.

Does the media favor AVB or EQR?

In the previous week, AvalonBay Communities had 3 more articles in the media than Equity Residential. MarketBeat recorded 18 mentions for AvalonBay Communities and 15 mentions for Equity Residential. Equity Residential's average media sentiment score of 0.80 beat AvalonBay Communities' score of 0.44 indicating that Equity Residential 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)	4 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Equity Residential	8 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts prefer AVB or EQR?

AvalonBay Communities currently has a consensus price target of $226.88, indicating a potential downside of 0.55%. Equity Residential has a consensus price target of $77.25, indicating a potential upside of 4.50%. Given Equity Residential's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Equity Residential is more favorable than AvalonBay Communities.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AvalonBay Communities	0 Sell rating(s)	11 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.39
Equity Residential	0 Sell rating(s)	11 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.42

Is AVB or EQR more profitable?

AvalonBay Communities has a net margin of 36.20% compared to Equity Residential's net margin of 31.57%. AvalonBay Communities' return on equity of 8.84% beat Equity Residential's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AvalonBay Communities	36.20%	8.84%	4.98%
Equity Residential	31.57%	8.31%	4.61%

Does the MarketBeat Community favor AVB or EQR?

AvalonBay Communities received 169 more outperform votes than Equity Residential when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 60.45% of users gave AvalonBay Communities an outperform vote while only 47.67% of users gave Equity Residential an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
AvalonBay Communities	Outperform Votes 671 60.45%	Underperform Votes 439 39.55%
Equity Residential	Outperform Votes 502 47.67%	Underperform Votes 551 52.33%

Do institutionals & insiders believe in AVB or EQR?

92.6% of AvalonBay Communities shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.7% of Equity Residential shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of AvalonBay Communities shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Equity Residential shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

AvalonBay Communities beats Equity Residential on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.