Analyzing Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) & AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNCN)

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) and AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNCN) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance and AGNC Investment, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance	1	3	0	0	1.75
AGNC Investment	0	0	0	0	N/A

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance presently has a consensus target price of $10.38, indicating a potential upside of 3.23%. Given Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance is more favorable than AGNC Investment.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance and AGNC Investment’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance	$344.59 million	4.15	$58.13 million	($0.78)	-12.88
AGNC Investment	$847.00 million	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance has higher earnings, but lower revenue than AGNC Investment.

Profitability

This table compares Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance and AGNC Investment’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance	-28.20%	5.88%	1.38%
AGNC Investment	N/A	N/A	N/A

Dividends

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 13.9%. AGNC Investment pays an annual dividend of $1.75 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.8%. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance pays out -179.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

54.4% of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance shares are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance beats AGNC Investment on 7 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that originates, acquires, invests in, and manages commercial first mortgage loans, subordinate financings, and other commercial real estate-related debt investments in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe. It is qualified as a REIT under the Internal Revenue Code. As a REIT, it would not be subject to federal income taxes, if the company distributes at least 90% of its REIT taxable income to its stockholders. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is based in New York, New York.

About AGNC Investment

AGNC Investment Corp. provides private capital to housing market in the United States. It invests in residential mortgage pass-through securities and collateralized mortgage obligations for which the principal and interest payments are guaranteed by the United States government-sponsored enterprise or by the United States government agency. The company qualifies as a real estate investment trust for federal income tax purposes. It generally would not be subject to federal corporate income taxes if it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to its stockholders. The company was formerly known as American Capital Agency Corp. and changed its name to AGNC Investment Corp. in September 2016. AGNC Investment Corp. was incorporated in 2008 and is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland.