ESS vs. AVB, EQR, MAA, SUI, UDR, ELS, CPT, AIV, UMH, and WELL
Should you be buying Essex Property Trust stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Essex Property Trust include AvalonBay Communities (AVB), Equity Residential (EQR), Mid-America Apartment Communities (MAA), Sun Communities (SUI), UDR (UDR), Equity LifeStyle Properties (ELS), Camden Property Trust (CPT), Apartment Investment and Management (AIV), UMH Properties (UMH), and Welltower (WELL). These companies are all part of the "real estate investment trusts" industry.
Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) and AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, media sentiment, risk, community ranking, profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings and valuation.
AvalonBay Communities has higher revenue and earnings than Essex Property Trust. AvalonBay Communities is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Essex Property Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Essex Property Trust received 50 more outperform votes than AvalonBay Communities when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 61.21% of users gave AvalonBay Communities an outperform vote while only 56.87% of users gave Essex Property Trust an outperform vote.
96.5% of Essex Property Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.6% of AvalonBay Communities shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.8% of Essex Property Trust shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of AvalonBay Communities shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Essex Property Trust has a beta of 0.84, indicating that its share price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AvalonBay Communities has a beta of 0.93, indicating that its share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.
In the previous week, AvalonBay Communities had 6 more articles in the media than Essex Property Trust. MarketBeat recorded 16 mentions for AvalonBay Communities and 10 mentions for Essex Property Trust. Essex Property Trust's average media sentiment score of 1.59 beat AvalonBay Communities' score of 1.15 indicating that Essex Property Trust is being referred to more favorably in the media.
AvalonBay Communities has a net margin of 34.05% compared to Essex Property Trust's net margin of 31.18%. Essex Property Trust's return on equity of 9.22% beat AvalonBay Communities' return on equity.
Essex Property Trust presently has a consensus target price of $257.33, indicating a potential downside of 4.01%. AvalonBay Communities has a consensus target price of $204.89, indicating a potential upside of 3.89%. Given AvalonBay Communities' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe AvalonBay Communities is more favorable than Essex Property Trust.
Essex Property Trust pays an annual dividend of $9.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. AvalonBay Communities pays an annual dividend of $6.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Essex Property Trust pays out 119.8% 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 101.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.
Summary
AvalonBay Communities beats Essex Property Trust on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding ESS and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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