J. W. Mays (NASDAQ:MAYS – Get Free Report) and CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP – Get Free Report) are both real estate companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, risk, earnings and dividends.
Profitability
This table compares J. W. Mays and CoStar Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| J. W. Mays | -6.64% | -2.70% | -1.55% |
| CoStar Group | 4.87% | 4.87% | 3.82% |
Institutional & Insider Ownership
3.2% of J. W. Mays shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.6% of CoStar Group shares are held by institutional investors. 40.8% of J. W. Mays shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of CoStar Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Volatility and Risk
J. W. Mays has a beta of 0.2, indicating that its share price is 80% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CoStar Group has a beta of 0.8, indicating that its share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for J. W. Mays and CoStar Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| J. W. Mays | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.00 |
| CoStar Group | 2 | 8 | 10 | 0 | 2.40 |
CoStar Group has a consensus price target of $39.11, suggesting a potential upside of 33.58%. Given CoStar Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe CoStar Group is more favorable than J. W. Mays.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares J. W. Mays and CoStar Group”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| J. W. Mays | $21.09 million | 4.47 | -$1.40 million | ($0.70) | -66.71 |
| CoStar Group | $3.25 billion | 3.65 | $7.00 million | $0.19 | 154.07 |
CoStar Group has higher revenue and earnings than J. W. Mays. J. W. Mays is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CoStar Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
CoStar Group beats J. W. Mays on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About J. W. Mays
J.W. Mays, Inc. owns, operates, and leases commercial real estate properties in United States. The company's properties are located in Brooklyn, Jamaica, Fishkill, Levittown, and Massapequa of New York; and Circleville of Ohio. The company was founded in 1924 and is based in Brooklyn, New York.
About CoStar Group
CoStar Group, Inc. provides information, analytics, and online marketplace services to the commercial real estate, hospitality, residential, and related professionals industries in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Asia Pacific, and Latin America. The company offers CoStar Property that provides inventory of office, industrial, retail, multifamily, hospitality, and student housing properties and land; CoStar Sales, a robust database of comparable commercial real estate sales transactions; CoStar Market Analytics to view and report on aggregated market and submarket trends; and CoStar Tenant, an online business-to-business prospecting and analytical tool that provides tenant information. It also provides Leasing, a tool to capture, manage, and maintain lease data; CoStar Lease Analysis; Public Record, a searchable database of commercially zoned parcels; CoStar Real Estate Manager, a real estate lease administration, portfolio management, and lease accounting compliance software solution; and CoStar Risk Analytics and CoStar Investment. In addition, it offers apartment marketing sites, such as ApartmentFinder.com, ForRent.com, ApartmentHomeLiving.com, WestsideRentals.com, AFTER55.com, CorporateHousing.com, ForRentUniversity.com, Apartamentos.com, and Off Campus Partners; LoopNet Premium Lister; LoopNet Diamond, Platinum, and Gold Ads; LandsofAmerica.com, LandAndFarm.com, and LandWatch.com for rural land for-sale; BizBuySell.com, BizQuest.com, and FindaFranchise.com for operating businesses and franchises for-sale; Ten-X, an online auction platform for commercial real estate; and HomeSnap, an online and mobile software platform, as well as Homes.com, a homes for sale listings site. The company was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Washington, the District of Columbia.
Receive News & Ratings for J. W. Mays Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for J. W. Mays and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
