MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) vs. Macerich (NYSE:MAC) Head-To-Head Comparison

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

Profitability

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

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for MFA Financial and Macerich, as reported by MarketBeat.

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

MFA Financial presently has a consensus price target of $14.00, indicating a potential upside of 33.08%. Macerich has a consensus price target of $18.86, indicating a potential downside of 8.36%. Given MFA Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe MFA Financial is more favorable than Macerich.

Dividends

MFA Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 13.3%. Macerich pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. 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. 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 is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Valuation and Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
MFA Financial	$334.80 million	3.21	$80.16 million	$1.59	6.62
Macerich	$883.22 million	5.79	-$274.07 million	$0.39	52.77

MFA Financial has higher earnings, but lower revenue 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.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

65.3% of MFA Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.4% of Macerich shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of MFA Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Macerich shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

MFA Financial has a beta of 2.12, suggesting that its share price is 112% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Macerich has a beta of 2.51, suggesting that its share price is 151% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

MFA Financial beats Macerich on 11 of the 16 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.

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).