Equity Lifestyle Properties Inc (ELS) is overvalued and Essex Property Trust Inc (ESS) is slightly undervalued.
Against our estimates of intrinsic value, ESS trades at the wider discount: a margin of safety of +7%, against -79% for ELS.
Values as of the 22 Sept 2026 close.
Discounting its cash flows at 8.0% (average of 3 methods) values the shares at $33.71; the price of $60.26 is 79% above that value, and 80% of that value comes from beyond year five.
Leak Score 0/100 on 2 of 12 signals
Discounting its cash flows at 8.9% (average of 3 methods) values the shares at $294.00; the price of $274.76 is 7% below that value, and 76% of that value comes from beyond year five.
Leak Score 47/100 on 9 of 12 signals
| Metric | ELS | ESS |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Overvalued | Slightly undervalued |
| Price | $60.26 | $274.76 |
| Intrinsic value | $33.71 | $294.00 |
| Margin of safety | -79% | +7% |
| Leak Score | 0/100 (2/12) | 47/100 (9/12) |
| Market cap | $12.1B | $18.3B |
| Revenue growth, 5 years | 7.1% | 4.8% |
| Operating margin | 34.3% | 29.3% |
| Net margin | 25.7% | 21.5% |
| Return on equity | 23.0% | 7.5% |
| Debt to equity | 1.88 | 1.27 |
| P/E | 29.3x | 42.8x |
| Forward P/E | 27.4x | 43.6x |
| P/B | 6.7x | 3.3x |
| Dividend yield | 3.6% | 3.8% |