Mid-America Apartment Communities (MAA) Competitors

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

Is ARE or MAA a better dividend stock?

Alexandria Real Estate Equities pays an annual dividend of $5.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.1%. Mid-America Apartment Communities pays an annual dividend of $6.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. Alexandria Real Estate Equities pays out -4,061.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Mid-America Apartment Communities pays out 124.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Alexandria Real Estate Equities has raised its dividend for 15 consecutive years and Mid-America Apartment Communities has raised its dividend for 16 consecutive years. Alexandria Real Estate Equities is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, ARE or MAA?

Mid-America Apartment Communities has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Alexandria Real Estate Equities. Alexandria Real Estate Equities 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
Alexandria Real Estate Equities	$3.12B	4.14	$322.95M	-$0.13	-573.72
Mid-America Apartment Communities	$2.19B	7.49	$527.54M	$4.86	28.83

Do analysts rate ARE or MAA?

Alexandria Real Estate Equities presently has a consensus price target of $97.17, suggesting a potential upside of 30.28%. Mid-America Apartment Communities has a consensus price target of $163.21, suggesting a potential upside of 16.50%. Given Alexandria Real Estate Equities' higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Alexandria Real Estate Equities is more favorable than Mid-America Apartment Communities.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Alexandria Real Estate Equities	0 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.18
Mid-America Apartment Communities	1 Sell rating(s)	10 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.37

Do insiders & institutionals believe in ARE or MAA?

96.5% of Alexandria Real Estate Equities shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.6% of Mid-America Apartment Communities shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of Alexandria Real Estate Equities shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of Mid-America Apartment Communities shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more risk & volatility, ARE or MAA?

Alexandria Real Estate Equities has a beta of 1.24, indicating that its stock price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mid-America Apartment Communities has a beta of 0.75, indicating that its stock price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is ARE or MAA more profitable?

Mid-America Apartment Communities has a net margin of 25.98% compared to Alexandria Real Estate Equities' net margin of -0.33%. Mid-America Apartment Communities' return on equity of 9.35% beat Alexandria Real Estate Equities' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Alexandria Real Estate Equities	-0.33%	-0.05%	-0.03%
Mid-America Apartment Communities	25.98%	9.35%	4.84%

Does the media prefer ARE or MAA?

In the previous week, Mid-America Apartment Communities had 8 more articles in the media than Alexandria Real Estate Equities. MarketBeat recorded 34 mentions for Mid-America Apartment Communities and 26 mentions for Alexandria Real Estate Equities. Alexandria Real Estate Equities' average media sentiment score of 0.87 beat Mid-America Apartment Communities' score of 0.80 indicating that Alexandria Real Estate Equities is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Alexandria Real Estate Equities	13 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Mid-America Apartment Communities	19 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	5 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Mid-America Apartment Communities beats Alexandria Real Estate Equities on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.