AvalonBay Communities (AVB) Competitors

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

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in EQR or AVB?

AvalonBay Communities received 168 more outperform votes than Equity Residential when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 59.93% of users gave AvalonBay Communities an outperform vote while only 47.52% of users gave Equity Residential an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Equity Residential	Outperform Votes 508 47.52%	Underperform Votes 561 52.48%
AvalonBay Communities	Outperform Votes 676 59.93%	Underperform Votes 452 40.07%

Is EQR or AVB more profitable?

AvalonBay Communities has a net margin of 37.13% compared to Equity Residential's net margin of 34.76%. Equity Residential's return on equity of 9.27% beat AvalonBay Communities' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Equity Residential	34.76%	9.27%	5.09%
AvalonBay Communities	37.13%	9.15%	5.15%

Do analysts rate EQR or AVB?

Equity Residential currently has a consensus target price of $79.69, suggesting a potential upside of 13.68%. AvalonBay Communities has a consensus target price of $239.93, suggesting a potential upside of 16.74%. Given AvalonBay Communities' higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe AvalonBay Communities is more favorable than Equity Residential.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Equity Residential	0 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
AvalonBay Communities	0 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.47

Is EQR or AVB a better dividend stock?

Equity Residential pays an annual dividend of $2.77 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. AvalonBay Communities pays an annual dividend of $7.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Equity Residential pays out 105.7% 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 87.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Equity Residential has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years and AvalonBay Communities has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years. Equity Residential is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of 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. 1.1% of Equity Residential shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of AvalonBay Communities shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media favor EQR or AVB?

In the previous week, Equity Residential had 3 more articles in the media than AvalonBay Communities. MarketBeat recorded 21 mentions for Equity Residential and 18 mentions for AvalonBay Communities. Equity Residential's average media sentiment score of 1.45 beat AvalonBay Communities' score of 1.36 indicating that Equity Residential is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Equity Residential	16 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
AvalonBay Communities	14 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk and volatility, EQR or AVB?

Equity Residential has a beta of 0.89, meaning that its stock price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AvalonBay Communities has a beta of 0.86, meaning that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, EQR or AVB?

AvalonBay Communities has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Equity Residential. AvalonBay Communities is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Equity Residential, 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	$3.01B	8.85	$1.04B	$2.62	26.76
AvalonBay Communities	$2.95B	9.93	$1.08B	$8.03	25.59

Summary

Equity Residential beats AvalonBay Communities on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.