Office Properties Income Trust (NASDAQ:OPI) versus Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) Critical Survey

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) and Office Properties Income Trust (NASDAQ:OPI) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, risk, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Volatility and Risk

Mid-America Apartment Communities has a beta of 0.78, indicating that its share price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Office Properties Income Trust has a beta of 1.71, indicating that its share price is 71% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

93.6% of Mid-America Apartment Communities shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 64.4% of Office Properties Income Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.3% of Mid-America Apartment Communities shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.8% of Office Properties Income Trust shares are owned 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.

Profitability

This table compares Mid-America Apartment Communities and Office Properties Income Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mid-America Apartment Communities	25.23%	9.10%	4.70%
Office Properties Income Trust	-62.99%	-25.56%	-8.02%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Mid-America Apartment Communities and Office Properties Income Trust”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mid-America Apartment Communities	$2.20 billion	6.94	$527.54 million	$4.72	27.66
Office Properties Income Trust	$466.97 million	0.00	-$136.11 million	($4.90)	0.00

Mid-America Apartment Communities has higher revenue and earnings than Office Properties Income Trust. Office Properties Income Trust 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.

Dividends

Mid-America Apartment Communities pays an annual dividend of $6.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.6%. Office Properties Income Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 238.1%. Mid-America Apartment Communities pays out 128.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Office Properties Income Trust pays out -0.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Mid-America Apartment Communities has raised its dividend for 16 consecutive years. Office Properties Income Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Mid-America Apartment Communities and Office Properties Income Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mid-America Apartment Communities	2	11	8	0	2.29
Office Properties Income Trust	1	0	0	0	1.00

Mid-America Apartment Communities presently has a consensus target price of $156.22, indicating a potential upside of 19.68%. Given Mid-America Apartment Communities’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Mid-America Apartment Communities is more favorable than Office Properties Income Trust.

Summary

Mid-America Apartment Communities beats Office Properties Income Trust on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Mid-America Apartment Communities

Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. is a real estate investment trust, which engages in the operation, acquisition, and development of apartment communities. It operates through the Same Store and Non-Same Store segments. The Same Store Communities segment represents those apartment communities that have been owned and stabilized for at least 12 months as of the first day of the calendar year. The Non-Same Store segment includes recent acquisitions, communities in development or lease-up. The company was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Germantown, TN.

About Office Properties Income Trust

Office Properties Income Trust is a real estate investment trust. It owns, operates, and leases office buildings to single tenants and multi-tenant buildings. The company was founded on February 17, 2009 and is headquartered in Newton, MA.