MFA Financial (MFA) Competitors

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) and ARMOUR Residential REIT (NYSE:ARR) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, community ranking, media sentiment, earnings, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability and risk.

Which has more volatility & risk, MFA or ARR?

MFA Financial has a beta of 1.69, suggesting that its share price is 69% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ARMOUR Residential REIT has a beta of 1.36, suggesting that its share price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer MFA or ARR?

In the previous week, ARMOUR Residential REIT had 1 more articles in the media than MFA Financial. MarketBeat recorded 8 mentions for ARMOUR Residential REIT and 7 mentions for MFA Financial. ARMOUR Residential REIT's average media sentiment score of 1.44 beat MFA Financial's score of 1.29 indicating that ARMOUR Residential REIT is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
MFA Financial	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
ARMOUR Residential REIT	7 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, MFA or ARR?

MFA Financial has higher revenue and earnings than ARMOUR Residential REIT. ARMOUR Residential REIT is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than MFA Financial, 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
MFA Financial	$264.48M	3.63	$80.16M	$0.98	9.55
ARMOUR Residential REIT	$4.08M	320.06	-$14.39M	-$0.35	-45.62

Is MFA or ARR more profitable?

MFA Financial has a net margin of 16.47% compared to ARMOUR Residential REIT's net margin of -2.61%. ARMOUR Residential REIT's return on equity of 16.00% beat MFA Financial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MFA Financial	16.47%	9.61%	1.64%
ARMOUR Residential REIT	-2.61%	16.00%	1.65%

Is MFA or ARR a better dividend stock?

MFA Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 15.4%. ARMOUR Residential REIT pays an annual dividend of $2.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 18.0%. MFA Financial pays out 146.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. ARMOUR Residential REIT pays out -822.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. MFA Financial has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. ARMOUR Residential REIT is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of MFA or ARR?

65.3% of MFA Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 54.2% of ARMOUR Residential REIT shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of MFA Financial shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of ARMOUR Residential REIT shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts prefer MFA or ARR?

MFA Financial currently has a consensus target price of $13.50, suggesting a potential upside of 44.31%. ARMOUR Residential REIT has a consensus target price of $20.50, suggesting a potential upside of 28.40%. Given MFA Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe MFA Financial is more favorable than ARMOUR Residential REIT.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MFA Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
ARMOUR Residential REIT	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.20

Does the MarketBeat Community favor MFA or ARR?

MFA Financial received 105 more outperform votes than ARMOUR Residential REIT when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 58.64% of users gave MFA Financial an outperform vote while only 49.07% of users gave ARMOUR Residential REIT an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
MFA Financial	Outperform Votes 370 58.64%	Underperform Votes 261 41.36%
ARMOUR Residential REIT	Outperform Votes 265 49.07%	Underperform Votes 275 50.93%

Summary

MFA Financial beats ARMOUR Residential REIT on 14 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.