Head to Head Review: American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH) and W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC)

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) and American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, earnings, risk, institutional ownership, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares W. P. Carey and American Homes 4 Rent’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
W. P. Carey	35.12%	6.45%	3.14%
American Homes 4 Rent	21.51%	4.76%	2.84%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

73.7% of W. P. Carey shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.9% of American Homes 4 Rent shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of W. P. Carey shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.1% of American Homes 4 Rent shares are held 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.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares W. P. Carey and American Homes 4 Rent”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
W. P. Carey	$1.59 billion	7.58	$708.33 million	$2.54	21.69
American Homes 4 Rent	$1.70 billion	8.07	$380.17 million	$0.96	38.70

W. P. Carey has higher earnings, but lower revenue than American Homes 4 Rent. W. P. Carey is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than American Homes 4 Rent, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

W. P. Carey pays an annual dividend of $3.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.4%. American Homes 4 Rent pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. W. P. Carey pays out 138.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. American Homes 4 Rent pays out 108.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for W. P. Carey and American Homes 4 Rent, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
W. P. Carey	1	6	2	0	2.11
American Homes 4 Rent	0	4	12	0	2.75

W. P. Carey presently has a consensus price target of $63.25, indicating a potential upside of 14.83%. American Homes 4 Rent has a consensus price target of $41.38, indicating a potential upside of 11.37%. Given W. P. Carey’s higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe W. P. Carey is more favorable than American Homes 4 Rent.

Volatility & Risk

W. P. Carey has a beta of 0.96, indicating that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Homes 4 Rent has a beta of 0.78, indicating that its stock price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500.

About W. P. Carey

W. P. Carey ranks among the largest net lease REITs with a well-diversified portfolio of high-quality, operationally critical commercial real estate, which includes 1,424 net lease properties covering approximately 173 million square feet and a portfolio of 89 self-storage operating properties as of December 31, 2023. With offices in New York, London, Amsterdam and Dallas, the company remains focused on investing primarily in single-tenant, industrial, warehouse and retail properties located in the U.S. and Northern and Western Europe, under long-term net leases with built-in rent escalations.

About American Homes 4 Rent

AMH (NYSE: AMH) is a leading large-scale integrated owner, operator and developer of single-family rental homes. We're an internally managed Maryland real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on acquiring, developing, renovating, leasing and managing homes as rental properties. Our goal is to simplify the experience of leasing a home and deliver peace of mind to households across the country. In recent years, we've been named one of Fortune's 2023 Best Workplaces in Real Estate, a 2023 Great Place to Work, a 2023 Most Loved Workplace, a 2023 Top U.S. Homebuilder by Builder100, and one of America's Most Responsible Companies 2023 and America's Most Trustworthy Companies 2023 by Newsweek and Statista Inc. As of December 31, 2023, we owned nearly 60,000 single-family properties in the Southeast, Midwest, Southwest and Mountain West regions of the United States.