Reviewing Howard Hughes (NYSE:HHH) and Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS)

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) and Howard Hughes (NYSE:HHH) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, valuation and institutional ownership.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

96.5% of Essex Property Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.8% of Howard Hughes shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.8% of Essex Property Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 33.0% of Howard Hughes shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Essex Property Trust and Howard Hughes, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Essex Property Trust	1	12	7	0	2.30
Howard Hughes	0	0	2	0	3.00

Essex Property Trust presently has a consensus price target of $307.16, indicating a potential upside of 4.91%. Howard Hughes has a consensus price target of $82.00, indicating a potential upside of 12.19%. Given Howard Hughes’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Howard Hughes is more favorable than Essex Property Trust.

Risk and Volatility

Essex Property Trust has a beta of 0.9, meaning that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Howard Hughes has a beta of 1.48, meaning that its stock price is 48% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Essex Property Trust and Howard Hughes”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Essex Property Trust	$1.77 billion	10.61	$741.52 million	$11.54	25.37
Howard Hughes	$1.75 billion	2.10	-$550.95 million	$3.94	18.55

Essex Property Trust has higher revenue and earnings than Howard Hughes. Howard Hughes is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Essex Property Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Essex Property Trust and Howard Hughes’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Essex Property Trust	41.79%	13.05%	5.82%
Howard Hughes	6.57%	3.38%	1.03%

Summary

Essex Property Trust beats Howard Hughes on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Essex Property Trust

Essex Property Trust, Inc., an S&P 500 company, is a fully integrated real estate investment trust (REIT) that acquires, develops, redevelops, and manages multifamily residential properties in selected West Coast markets. Essex currently has ownership interests in 252 apartment communities comprising approximately 62,000 apartment homes with an additional property in active development.

About Howard Hughes

Howard Hughes Holdings Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a real estate development company in the United States. It operates in four segments: Operating Assets; Master Planned Communities (MPCs); Seaport; and Strategic Developments. The Operating Assets segment consists of developed or acquired retail, office, and multi-family properties along with other retail investments. Its MPCs segment develops, sells, and leases residential and commercial land designated for long-term community development projects in and around Las Vegas, Nevada; Houston, Texas; and Phoenix, Arizona. The Seaport segment is involved in the landlord operations, managed businesses, and events and sponsorships services of its restaurant, retail, and entertain properties in Pier 17, New York City; Historic Area/Uplands; and Tin Building, as well as in 250 Water Street and in the Jean-Georges restaurants. The Strategic Development segment develops and redevelops residential condominiums and commercial properties. It serves homebuilders. Howard Hughes Holdings Inc. was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas.