Essex Property Trust Inc (ESS) is slightly undervalued and Mid-America Apartment Communities Inc (MAA) is overvalued.
Against our estimates of intrinsic value, ESS trades at the wider discount: a margin of safety of +7%, against -152% for MAA.
Values as of the 22 Sept 2026 close.
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
Discounting its cash flows at 7.9% (average of 3 methods) values the shares at $47.24; the price of $119.15 is 152% above that value, and 80% of that value comes from beyond year five.
Leak Score 0/100 on 2 of 12 signals
| Metric | ESS | MAA |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Slightly undervalued | Overvalued |
| Price | $274.76 | $119.15 |
| Intrinsic value | $294.00 | $47.24 |
| Margin of safety | +7% | -152% |
| Leak Score | 47/100 (9/12) | 0/100 (2/12) |
| Market cap | $18.3B | $14.2B |
| Revenue growth, 5 years | 4.8% | 5.7% |
| Operating margin | 29.3% | 27.8% |
| Net margin | 21.5% | 18.0% |
| Return on equity | 7.5% | 7.1% |
| Debt to equity | 1.27 | 1.05 |
| P/E | 42.8x | 34.8x |
| Forward P/E | 43.6x | 38.0x |
| P/B | 3.3x | 2.5x |
| Dividend yield | 3.8% | 5.1% |