Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) vs. Gadsden Properties (OTCMKTS:GADS) Critical Contrast

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for Gadsden Properties and Mid-America Apartment Communities, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Gadsden Properties	0	0	0	0	0.00
Mid-America Apartment Communities	2	11	8	0	2.29

Mid-America Apartment Communities has a consensus price target of $154.89, indicating a potential upside of 16.62%. Given Mid-America Apartment Communities’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Mid-America Apartment Communities is more favorable than Gadsden Properties.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

93.6% of Mid-America Apartment Communities shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.0% of Gadsden Properties shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of Mid-America Apartment Communities shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Gadsden Properties has a beta of -8.94, indicating that its share price is 994% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mid-America Apartment Communities has a beta of 0.77, indicating that its share price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Gadsden Properties and Mid-America Apartment Communities’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Gadsden Properties	N/A	N/A	N/A
Mid-America Apartment Communities	25.23%	9.14%	4.69%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Gadsden Properties and Mid-America Apartment Communities”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Gadsden Properties	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Mid-America Apartment Communities	$2.19 billion	7.10	$527.54 million	$4.72	28.14

Mid-America Apartment Communities has higher revenue and earnings than Gadsden Properties.

Summary

Mid-America Apartment Communities beats Gadsden Properties on 9 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Gadsden Properties

Gadsden Properties, Inc. is a Nevada corporation that was formed on December 28, 2010. Gadsden concentrates primarily on investments in high quality income-producing assets, residential developments and other opportunistic commercial properties in secondary and tertiary markets across the United States. The Company derives value from smaller, flexible retail investments that range from $5 million to $50 million and off-market mixed-use properties ranging from $50 million to $250 million. As a result of this chosen strategy, we believe that Gadsden is developing a unique competitive advantage that generally allows the Company to invest in markets and assets that are often overlooked by larger institutional investors, such as publicly-traded REITs and other large institutional investors. As part of its strategy, Gadsden attracts specific sellers that prefer the tax deferral advantages offered through issuing operating partnership units in exchange for their properties. These real estate assets are typically operated by independent owners that are seeking to monetize their real estate holdings, and who are typically not well capitalized or well-seasoned real estate operators. These transactions create a variety of outcomes for Gadsden and the sellers typically resulting in lease-up and value-added opportunities that may not be otherwise achieved.

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.