Contrasting Gadsden Properties (OTCMKTS:GADS) and Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA)

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

Volatility & Risk

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

93.6% of Mid-America Apartment Communities shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.2% of Mid-America Apartment Communities shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.0% of Gadsden Properties shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

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

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mid-America Apartment Communities	2	12	8	0	2.27
Gadsden Properties	0	0	0	0	0.00

Mid-America Apartment Communities presently has a consensus target price of $154.89, indicating a potential upside of 13.10%. Given Mid-America Apartment Communities’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Mid-America Apartment Communities is more favorable than Gadsden Properties.

Profitability

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

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

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Mid-America Apartment Communities and Gadsden Properties”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	$2.20 billion	7.28	$527.54 million	$4.72	29.01
Gadsden Properties	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

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 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 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.