AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNCZ) vs. MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) Critical Analysis

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNCZ) and MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) are both real estate 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.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares AGNC Investment and MFA Financial”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AGNC Investment	$1.61 billion	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
MFA Financial	$745.06 million	1.25	$176.78 million	$0.87	10.52

MFA Financial has lower revenue, but higher earnings than AGNC Investment.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for AGNC Investment and MFA Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AGNC Investment	0	0	0	0	0.00
MFA Financial	0	4	3	0	2.43

MFA Financial has a consensus price target of $10.44, indicating a potential upside of 14.05%. Given MFA Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe MFA Financial is more favorable than AGNC Investment.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

65.3% of MFA Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of MFA Financial 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.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AGNC Investment	N/A	N/A	N/A
MFA Financial	17.80%	6.86%	0.99%

Summary

MFA Financial beats AGNC Investment on 8 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.