Head to Head Review: Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) versus Clipper Realty (NYSE:CLPR)

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) and Clipper Realty (NYSE:CLPR) are both real estate companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation and profitability.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

93.6% of Mid-America Apartment Communities shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 37.6% of Clipper Realty shares are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of Mid-America Apartment Communities shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 54.6% of Clipper Realty shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Mid-America Apartment Communities and Clipper Realty’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mid-America Apartment Communities	18.17%	6.99%	3.37%
Clipper Realty	-8.36%	N/A	-1.03%

Volatility & Risk

Mid-America Apartment Communities has a beta of 0.73, indicating that its share price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Clipper Realty has a beta of 0.97, indicating that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Mid-America Apartment Communities pays an annual dividend of $6.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.7%. Clipper Realty pays an annual dividend of $0.38 per share and has a dividend yield of 11.8%. Mid-America Apartment Communities pays out 178.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Clipper Realty pays out -40.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Mid-America Apartment Communities has increased its dividend for 16 consecutive years. Clipper Realty is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Mid-America Apartment Communities and Clipper Realty, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mid-America Apartment Communities	1	11	8	0	2.35
Clipper Realty	0	1	0	0	2.00

Mid-America Apartment Communities currently has a consensus target price of $144.69, indicating a potential upside of 11.94%. Given Mid-America Apartment Communities’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Mid-America Apartment Communities is more favorable than Clipper Realty.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Mid-America Apartment Communities and Clipper Realty”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	$2.21 billion	6.79	$446.91 million	$3.42	37.80
Clipper Realty	$151.46 million	0.34	-$19.90 million	($0.93)	-3.46

Mid-America Apartment Communities has higher revenue and earnings than Clipper Realty. Clipper Realty 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.

Summary

Mid-America Apartment Communities beats Clipper Realty 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 Clipper Realty

Clipper Realty Inc. (NYSE: CLPR) is a self-administered and self-managed real estate company that acquires, owns, manages, operates, and repositions multifamily residential and commercial properties in the New York metropolitan area, with a portfolio in Manhattan and Brooklyn.