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

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

Profitability

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

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for MFA Financial and AGNC Investment, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

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

MFA Financial currently has a consensus price target of $10.69, indicating a potential upside of 11.32%. Given MFA Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe MFA Financial is more favorable than AGNC Investment.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

65.3% of MFA Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% 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 will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
MFA Financial	$257.18 million	3.79	$176.78 million	$0.87	11.04
AGNC Investment	$1.61 billion	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

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

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.