Equity Residential (EQR) Competitors

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

Which has better valuation & earnings, AVB or EQR?

AvalonBay Communities has higher earnings, but lower revenue 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	$2.77B	11.21	$928.83M	$7.31	29.85
Equity Residential	$2.87B	9.21	$835.44M	$2.44	28.60

Does the media favor AVB or EQR?

In the previous week, AvalonBay Communities had 1 more articles in the media than Equity Residential. MarketBeat recorded 9 mentions for AvalonBay Communities and 8 mentions for Equity Residential. AvalonBay Communities' average media sentiment score of 0.87 beat Equity Residential's score of 0.52 indicating that AvalonBay Communities is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
AvalonBay Communities	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Equity Residential	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of 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. 0.5% 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 large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

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 3.1%. Equity Residential pays an annual dividend of $2.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. 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.

Do analysts recommend AVB or EQR?

AvalonBay Communities presently has a consensus price target of $234.53, suggesting a potential upside of 7.48%. Equity Residential has a consensus price target of $78.69, suggesting a potential upside of 12.77%. Given Equity Residential's 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)	8 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Equity Residential	0 Sell rating(s)	10 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.47

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer AVB or EQR?

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

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%

Which has more volatility & risk, AVB or EQR?

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

Summary

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