Mid-America Apartment Communities (MAA) Competitors

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

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer AVB or MAA?

AvalonBay Communities received 161 more outperform votes than Mid-America Apartment Communities when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 60.45% of users gave AvalonBay Communities an outperform vote while only 60.21% of users gave Mid-America Apartment Communities an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
AvalonBay Communities	Outperform Votes 671 60.45%	Underperform Votes 439 39.55%
Mid-America Apartment Communities	Outperform Votes 510 60.21%	Underperform Votes 337 39.79%

Which has higher earnings & valuation, AVB or MAA?

AvalonBay Communities has higher revenue and earnings than Mid-America Apartment Communities. AvalonBay Communities is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Mid-America Apartment 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
Mid-America Apartment Communities	$2.15B	8.58	$552.81M	$4.43	35.60

Do analysts rate AVB or MAA?

AvalonBay Communities currently has a consensus target price of $226.88, indicating a potential downside of 0.55%. Mid-America Apartment Communities has a consensus target price of $161.64, indicating a potential upside of 2.48%. Given Mid-America Apartment Communities' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Mid-America Apartment Communities 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
Mid-America Apartment Communities	1 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Does the media refer more to AVB or MAA?

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

Do insiders and institutionals believe in AVB or MAA?

92.6% of AvalonBay Communities shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.6% of Mid-America Apartment Communities shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of AvalonBay Communities shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of Mid-America Apartment Communities shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is AVB or MAA more profitable?

AvalonBay Communities has a net margin of 36.20% compared to Mid-America Apartment Communities' net margin of 23.84%. AvalonBay Communities' return on equity of 8.84% beat Mid-America Apartment Communities' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AvalonBay Communities	36.20%	8.84%	4.98%
Mid-America Apartment Communities	23.84%	8.38%	4.50%

Which has more volatility and risk, AVB or MAA?

AvalonBay Communities has a beta of 0.97, suggesting that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mid-America Apartment Communities has a beta of 0.88, suggesting that its stock price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is AVB or MAA a better dividend stock?

AvalonBay Communities pays an annual dividend of $6.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Mid-America Apartment Communities pays an annual dividend of $5.88 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. Mid-America Apartment Communities pays out 132.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Mid-America Apartment Communities has increased its dividend for 15 consecutive years. Mid-America Apartment Communities is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

AvalonBay Communities beats Mid-America Apartment Communities on 12 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.