Head to Head Contrast: AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) vs. Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (NYSE:PEB)

Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (NYSE:PEB) and AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk and institutional ownership.

Dividends

Pebblebrook Hotel Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. AvalonBay Communities pays an annual dividend of $6.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Pebblebrook Hotel Trust pays out -13.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. AvalonBay Communities pays out 93.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Pebblebrook Hotel Trust and AvalonBay Communities”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Pebblebrook Hotel Trust	$1.45 billion	1.11	-$78.02 million	($0.29)	-46.38
AvalonBay Communities	$2.88 billion	10.83	$928.83 million	$7.31	29.98

AvalonBay Communities has higher revenue and earnings than Pebblebrook Hotel Trust. Pebblebrook Hotel Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than AvalonBay Communities, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

92.6% of AvalonBay Communities shares are held by institutional investors. 2.4% of Pebblebrook Hotel Trust shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of AvalonBay Communities shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Pebblebrook Hotel Trust has a beta of 1.86, suggesting that its stock price is 86% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AvalonBay Communities has a beta of 0.98, suggesting that its stock price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Pebblebrook Hotel Trust and AvalonBay Communities, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Pebblebrook Hotel Trust	2	3	2	0	2.00
AvalonBay Communities	0	10	7	0	2.41

Pebblebrook Hotel Trust currently has a consensus target price of $14.64, suggesting a potential upside of 8.87%. AvalonBay Communities has a consensus target price of $231.33, suggesting a potential upside of 5.55%. Given Pebblebrook Hotel Trust’s higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Pebblebrook Hotel Trust is more favorable than AvalonBay Communities.

Profitability

This table compares Pebblebrook Hotel Trust and AvalonBay Communities’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Pebblebrook Hotel Trust	0.25%	0.13%	0.06%
AvalonBay Communities	36.20%	8.84%	4.98%

Summary

AvalonBay Communities beats Pebblebrook Hotel Trust on 12 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Pebblebrook Hotel Trust

Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (NYSE: PEB) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust ("REIT") and the largest owner of urban and resort lifestyle hotels and resorts in the United States. The Company owns 47 hotels and resorts, totaling approximately 12,200 guest rooms across 13 urban and resort markets.

About AvalonBay Communities

As of December 31, 2023, the Company owned or held a direct or indirect ownership interest in 299 apartment communities containing 90,669 apartment homes in 12 states and the District of Columbia, of which 18 communities were under development. The Company is an equity REIT in the business of developing, redeveloping, acquiring and managing apartment communities in leading metropolitan areas in New England, the New York/New Jersey Metro area, the Mid-Atlantic, the Pacific Northwest, and Northern and Southern California, as well as in the Company's expansion regions of Raleigh-Durham and Charlotte, North Carolina, Southeast Florida, Dallas and Austin, Texas, and Denver, Colorado.