Apartment Investment and Management (NYSE:AIV) and MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) Head to Head Contrast

Apartment Investment and Management (NYSE:AIV) and MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk and dividends.

Dividends

Apartment Investment and Management pays an annual dividend of $1.01 per share and has a dividend yield of 12.9%. MFA Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 16.0%. Apartment Investment and Management pays out -136.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. MFA Financial pays out 177.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

83.3% of Apartment Investment and Management shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 65.3% of MFA Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 3.0% of Apartment Investment and Management shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of MFA Financial shares are held by company 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.

Risk and Volatility

Apartment Investment and Management has a beta of 1.29, indicating that its stock price is 29% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MFA Financial has a beta of 1.61, indicating that its stock price is 61% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Apartment Investment and Management and MFA Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Apartment Investment and Management	0	0	0	0	0.00
MFA Financial	0	0	5	0	3.00

MFA Financial has a consensus price target of $13.60, suggesting a potential upside of 51.36%. Given MFA Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe MFA Financial is more favorable than Apartment Investment and Management.

Profitability

This table compares Apartment Investment and Management and MFA Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Apartment Investment and Management	-119.76%	-68.04%	-11.72%
MFA Financial	16.47%	9.61%	1.64%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Apartment Investment and Management and MFA Financial”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Apartment Investment and Management	$208.68 million	5.33	-$166.20 million	($0.74)	-10.59
MFA Financial	$252.85 million	3.64	$80.16 million	$0.81	11.09

MFA Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Apartment Investment and Management. Apartment Investment and Management is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than MFA Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

MFA Financial beats Apartment Investment and Management on 12 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Apartment Investment and Management

Apartment Investment & Management Co. operates as a real estate investment trust that engages in the acquisition, ownership, management and redevelopment of apartment properties. The company was founded in 1975 and is headquartered in Denver, CO.

About MFA Financial

MFA Financial, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a real estate investment trust in the United States. It invests in residential mortgage securities, including non-agency mortgage-backed securities, agency MBS, and credit risk transfer securities; residential whole loans, including purchased performing loans, purchased credit deteriorated, and non-performing loans; and mortgage servicing rights related assets. The company was incorporated in 1997 and is based in New York, New York.