Sun Communities (NYSE:SUI) and Apartment Investment and Management (NYSE:AIV) Critical Comparison

Apartment Investment and Management (NYSE:AIV) and Sun Communities (NYSE:SUI) are both real estate companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, risk and earnings.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

83.3% of Apartment Investment and Management shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.6% of Sun Communities shares are held by institutional investors. 3.9% of Apartment Investment and Management shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of Sun Communities shares are held 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.

Risk and Volatility

Apartment Investment and Management has a beta of 1.21, meaning that its share price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sun Communities has a beta of 0.76, meaning that its share price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Apartment Investment and Management and Sun Communities, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Apartment Investment and Management	1	0	0	0	1.00
Sun Communities	1	5	9	2	2.71

Sun Communities has a consensus target price of $137.05, indicating a potential upside of 20.98%. Given Sun Communities’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Sun Communities is more favorable than Apartment Investment and Management.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Apartment Investment and Management	N/A	N/A	N/A
Sun Communities	-36.00%	5.02%	2.82%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Apartment Investment and Management and Sun Communities”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	$138.49 million	1.65	$554.01 million	$3.88	0.41
Sun Communities	$2.31 billion	5.86	$1.37 billion	($6.16)	-18.39

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

Summary

Sun Communities beats Apartment Investment and Management on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Apartment Investment and Management

Apartment Investment & Management Co. operates as a real estate investment trust that engages in the acquisition, ownership, management and redevelopment of apartment properties. The company was founded in 1975 and is headquartered in Denver, CO.

About Sun Communities

Established in 1975, Sun Communities, Inc. became a publicly owned corporation in December 1993. The Company is a fully integrated REIT listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol: SUI. As of December 31, 2023, the Company owned, operated, or had an interest in a portfolio of 667 developed MH, RV and Marina properties comprising 179,310 developed sites and approximately 48,030 wet slips and dry storage spaces in the U.S., the UK and Canada.