American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH) & Armada Hoffler Properties (NYSE:AHH) Head to Head Contrast

American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH) and Armada Hoffler Properties (NYSE:AHH) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership and valuation.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

91.9% of American Homes 4 Rent shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 66.4% of Armada Hoffler Properties shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.3% of American Homes 4 Rent shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 10.2% of Armada Hoffler Properties shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares American Homes 4 Rent and Armada Hoffler Properties”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
American Homes 4 Rent	$1.73 billion	6.83	$412.43 million	$1.18	26.97
Armada Hoffler Properties	$708.47 million	0.96	$35.65 million	$0.19	34.63

American Homes 4 Rent has higher revenue and earnings than Armada Hoffler Properties. American Homes 4 Rent is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Armada Hoffler Properties, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

American Homes 4 Rent has a beta of 0.8, suggesting that its share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Armada Hoffler Properties has a beta of 1.06, suggesting that its share price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

American Homes 4 Rent pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Armada Hoffler Properties pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.5%. American Homes 4 Rent pays out 101.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Armada Hoffler Properties pays out 294.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. American Homes 4 Rent has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for American Homes 4 Rent and Armada Hoffler Properties, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
American Homes 4 Rent	0	6	9	0	2.60
Armada Hoffler Properties	2	1	1	1	2.20

American Homes 4 Rent currently has a consensus price target of $38.14, suggesting a potential upside of 19.83%. Armada Hoffler Properties has a consensus price target of $8.13, suggesting a potential upside of 23.48%. Given Armada Hoffler Properties’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Armada Hoffler Properties is more favorable than American Homes 4 Rent.

Profitability

This table compares American Homes 4 Rent and Armada Hoffler Properties’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
American Homes 4 Rent	24.70%	5.90%	3.46%
Armada Hoffler Properties	6.77%	4.43%	1.22%

Summary

American Homes 4 Rent beats Armada Hoffler Properties on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About American Homes 4 Rent

American Homes 4 Rent operates as a real estate investment trust. It engages in the acquisition, renovation, leasing, and operating of single-family homes as rental properties. The company was founded by Bradley Wayne Hughes, Sr. on October 19, 2012 and is headquartered in Las Vegas, NV.

About Armada Hoffler Properties

Armada Hoffler Properties, Inc. (the “Company”) is a vertically integrated, self-managed real estate investment trust (“REIT”) with over four decades of experience developing, building, acquiring, and managing high-quality retail, office, and multifamily properties located primarily in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States. In addition to the ownership of the Company’s operating property portfolio, the Company develops and builds properties for its own account and through joint ventures between the Company and unaffiliated partners and also invests in development projects through real estate financing arrangements. The Company also provides general construction and development services to third-party clients. The Company’s construction and development experience includes mid- and high-rise office buildings, retail strip malls, retail power centers, multifamily apartment communities, hotels and conference centers, single- and multi-tenant industrial, distribution, and manufacturing facilities, educational, medical, and special purpose facilities, government projects, parking garages, and mixed-use town centers. The Company is the sole general partner of Armada Hoffler, L.P. (the “Operating Partnership”) and, as of March 31, 2024, owned 75.5% of the economic interest in the Operating Partnership, of which 0.1% is held as general partnership units. The operations of the Company are conducted primarily through the Operating Partnership and the wholly owned subsidiaries thereof.