Analyzing AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNCZ) and Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI)

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNCZ) and Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) are both real estate companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for AGNC Investment and Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AGNC Investment	0	0	0	0	0.00
Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance	1	3	3	0	2.29

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance has a consensus target price of $11.00, suggesting a potential upside of 8.43%. Given Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance is more favorable than AGNC Investment.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares AGNC Investment and Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AGNC Investment	$1.80 billion	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance	$271.59 million	5.21	$126.72 million	$0.80	12.68

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance has lower revenue, but higher earnings than AGNC Investment.

Profitability

This table compares AGNC Investment and Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AGNC Investment	N/A	N/A	N/A
Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance	46.66%	7.94%	1.55%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

54.4% of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance beats AGNC Investment on 8 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that originates, acquires, invests in, and manages commercial first mortgage loans, subordinate financings, and other commercial real estate-related debt investments in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe. It is qualified as a REIT under the Internal Revenue Code. As a REIT, it would not be subject to federal income taxes, if the company distributes at least 90% of its REIT taxable income to its stockholders. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is based in New York, New York.