Apartment Investment and Management (NYSE:AIV) vs. AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC) Critical Contrast

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

Volatility & Risk

Apartment Investment and Management has a beta of 1.38, suggesting that its share price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AGNC Investment has a beta of 1.47, suggesting that its share price is 47% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Apartment Investment and Management and AGNC Investment”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Apartment Investment and Management	$198.40 million	6.02	-$166.20 million	($1.59)	-5.31
AGNC Investment	$514.00 million	14.17	$155.00 million	$1.44	6.47

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Apartment Investment and Management	-113.14%	-51.94%	-10.54%
AGNC Investment	16.15%	26.21%	2.36%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Apartment Investment and Management and AGNC Investment, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Apartment Investment and Management	0	0	0	0	N/A
AGNC Investment	0	4	7	0	2.64

AGNC Investment has a consensus target price of $10.33, suggesting a potential upside of 10.99%. Given AGNC Investment’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe AGNC Investment is more favorable than Apartment Investment and Management.

Dividends

Apartment Investment and Management pays an annual dividend of $1.01 per share and has a dividend yield of 12.0%. AGNC Investment pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 15.5%. Apartment Investment and Management pays out -63.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. AGNC Investment pays out 100.0% 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 & Insider Ownership

83.3% of Apartment Investment and Management shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 38.3% of AGNC Investment shares are held by institutional investors. 3.0% of Apartment Investment and Management shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of AGNC Investment shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

AGNC Investment beats Apartment Investment and Management on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Apartment Investment and Management

Aimco is a diversified real estate company primarily focused on value add and opportunistic investments, targeting the U.S. multifamily sector. Aimco’s mission is to make real estate investments where outcomes are enhanced through our human capital so that substantial value is created for investors, teammates, and the communities in which we operate. Aimco is traded on the New York Stock Exchange as AIV.

About AGNC Investment

AGNC Investment Corp., formerly American Capital Agency Corp., is a real estate investment trust. The Company invests in agency residential mortgage-backed securities on a leveraged basis. Its investments consist of residential mortgage pass-through securities and collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs) for which the principal and interest payments are guaranteed by a government-sponsored enterprise, such as the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), or by the United States Government agency, such as the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae) (collectively, GSEs). Its agency securities include agency residential mortgage-backed securities (Agency RMBS) and to-be-announced forward contracts (TBAs). Its Non-Agency Securities include credit risk transfer securities (CRT), non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities (Non-Agency RMBS) and commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS).