Head to Head Survey: Macerich (NYSE:MAC) & MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA)

Macerich (NYSE:MAC) and MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, dividends, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation and institutional ownership.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

87.4% of Macerich shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 65.3% of MFA Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Macerich shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of MFA Financial shares are owned by 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 breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Macerich and MFA Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Macerich	2	7	1	0	1.90
MFA Financial	0	0	4	0	3.00

Macerich presently has a consensus price target of $18.86, suggesting a potential downside of 5.51%. MFA Financial has a consensus price target of $14.00, suggesting a potential upside of 36.99%. Given MFA Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe MFA Financial is more favorable than Macerich.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Macerich and MFA Financial”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Macerich	$883.22 million	5.62	-$274.07 million	$0.39	51.18
MFA Financial	$334.80 million	3.12	$80.16 million	$1.59	6.43

MFA Financial has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Macerich. MFA Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Macerich, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Macerich pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. MFA Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 13.7%. Macerich pays out 174.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. MFA Financial pays out 88.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. MFA Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Volatility & Risk

Macerich has a beta of 2.51, meaning that its share price is 151% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MFA Financial has a beta of 2.11, meaning that its share price is 111% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Macerich and MFA Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Macerich	8.98%	3.15%	1.05%
MFA Financial	28.38%	9.97%	1.71%

Summary

MFA Financial beats Macerich on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Macerich

Macerich is a fully integrated, self-managed and self-administered real estate investment trust (REIT). As a leading owner, operator and developer of high-quality retail real estate in densely populated and attractive U.S. markets, Macerich’s portfolio is concentrated in California, the Pacific Northwest, Phoenix/Scottsdale, and the Metro New York to Washington, D.C. corridor. Developing and managing properties that serve as community cornerstones, Macerich currently owns 47 million square feet of real estate consisting primarily of interests in 44 regional town centers. Macerich is firmly dedicated to advancing environmental goals, social good and sound corporate governance. A recognized leader in sustainability, Macerich has achieved a #1 Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) ranking for the North American retail sector for nine consecutive years (2015-2023).

About MFA Financial

MFA Financial, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a real estate investment trust in the United States. It invests in residential mortgage securities, including non-agency mortgage-backed securities, agency MBS, and credit risk transfer securities; residential whole loans, including purchased performing loans, purchased credit deteriorated, and non-performing loans; and mortgage servicing rights related assets. The company was incorporated in 1997 and is based in New York, New York.