SUI vs. ESS, MAA, ELS, UDR, CPT, EQR, AVB, VTR, HST, and AMH
Should you be buying Sun Communities stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Sun Communities include Essex Property Trust (ESS), Mid-America Apartment Communities (MAA), Equity LifeStyle Properties (ELS), UDR (UDR), Camden Property Trust (CPT), Equity Residential (EQR), AvalonBay Communities (AVB), Ventas (VTR), Host Hotels & Resorts (HST), and American Homes 4 Rent (AMH). These companies are all part of the "real estate investment trusts" industry.
Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) and Sun Communities (NYSE:SUI) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, valuation, community ranking, risk, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations and media sentiment.
In the previous week, Essex Property Trust had 1 more articles in the media than Sun Communities. MarketBeat recorded 14 mentions for Essex Property Trust and 13 mentions for Sun Communities. Sun Communities' average media sentiment score of 0.69 beat Essex Property Trust's score of 0.58 indicating that Essex Property Trust is being referred to more favorably in the media.
92.9% of Essex Property Trust shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.8% of Sun Communities shares are held by institutional investors. 3.8% of Essex Property Trust shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.1% of Sun Communities shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Essex Property Trust pays an annual dividend of $9.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Sun Communities pays an annual dividend of $3.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Essex Property Trust pays out 146.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Sun Communities pays out 326.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Essex Property Trust has raised its dividend for 30 consecutive years and Sun Communities has raised its dividend for 8 consecutive years. Essex Property Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Essex Property Trust has a net margin of 24.31% compared to Essex Property Trust's net margin of 4.40%. Sun Communities' return on equity of 7.10% beat Essex Property Trust's return on equity.
Essex Property Trust has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Sun Communities. Essex Property Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Sun Communities, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Essex Property Trust currently has a consensus target price of $243.58, suggesting a potential upside of 2.55%. Sun Communities has a consensus target price of $140.42, suggesting a potential upside of 7.61%. Given Essex Property Trust's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Sun Communities is more favorable than Essex Property Trust.
Essex Property Trust has a beta of 0.79, indicating that its share price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sun Communities has a beta of 0.81, indicating that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Essex Property Trust received 322 more outperform votes than Sun Communities when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 61.16% of users gave Sun Communities an outperform vote while only 57.20% of users gave Essex Property Trust an outperform vote.
Summary
Essex Property Trust beats Sun Communities on 14 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding SUI and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Skip ChartThis 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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