AvalonBay Communities (AVB) Competitors

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

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

92.7% of Equity Residential shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.6% of AvalonBay Communities shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Equity Residential shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of AvalonBay Communities shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer EQR or AVB?

AvalonBay Communities received 170 more outperform votes than Equity Residential when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 60.47% of users gave AvalonBay Communities an outperform vote while only 47.59% of users gave Equity Residential an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Equity Residential	Outperform Votes 503 47.59%	Underperform Votes 554 52.41%
AvalonBay Communities	Outperform Votes 673 60.47%	Underperform Votes 440 39.53%

Does the media prefer EQR or AVB?

In the previous week, AvalonBay Communities had 3 more articles in the media than Equity Residential. MarketBeat recorded 11 mentions for AvalonBay Communities and 8 mentions for Equity Residential. AvalonBay Communities' average media sentiment score of 0.76 beat Equity Residential's score of 0.48 indicating that AvalonBay Communities is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Equity Residential	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
AvalonBay Communities	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

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 3.9%. AvalonBay Communities pays an annual dividend of $6.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. 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.

Which has more volatility & risk, 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.

Do analysts rate EQR or AVB?

Equity Residential currently has a consensus price target of $78.69, indicating a potential upside of 12.77%. AvalonBay Communities has a consensus price target of $234.53, indicating a potential upside of 7.48%. Given Equity Residential's higher probable upside, 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

Is EQR or AVB 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
Equity Residential	31.57%	8.31%	4.61%
AvalonBay Communities	36.20%	8.84%	4.98%

Which has higher earnings & 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	9.21	$835.44M	$2.44	28.60
AvalonBay Communities	$2.77B	11.21	$928.83M	$7.31	29.85

Summary

AvalonBay Communities beats Equity Residential on 14 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.