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what it is
Equity Residential owns 84,249 apartment units and collects rent from big-city and Sun Belt renters.
how it gets paid
Last year Equity Residential made n/a in revenue. Core coastal East was the main engine at $1.10B, or 35% of sales.
what just happened
Last quarter, EQR delivered $0.98 EPS against a $0.61 estimate, a 60.7% beat.
At a glance
A balance sheet — strong enough to weather a downturn
60/100 earnings predictability — reasonably predictable
24.1x trailing p/e — priced about right
4.7% dividend yield — cash in your pocket every quarter
6.0% return on capital — nothing to write home about
xvary composite: 70/100 — average
What they do
Equity Residential owns 84,249 apartment units and collects rent from big-city and Sun Belt renters.
Scale matters here. EQR owned 84,249 units across 311 properties at year-end 2024, which gives you operating leverage (spreading fixed costs across more apartments, so what: each building gets cheaper to run). That helps support a 63.0% operating margin (profit after property costs, before interest and taxes, so what: the portfolio throws off real cash).
How they make money
n/a
annual revenue
Core coastal East
$1.10B
Core coastal West
$0.94B
Pacific Northwest
$0.47B
Southern expansion markets
$0.63B
The products that matter
multifamily rental portfolio
Same-Store Communities
$2.7B · 93% of shown revenue
This is the core business: $2.7B across stabilized communities, with same-store revenue expected to grow 1.2–3.2% next year.
the main engine
portfolio scale and occupancy
Operating Portfolio
310 properties · 86,320 units
You own 86,320 apartment units running at a 96.3% same-store physical occupancy rate. That keeps cash flow steady even when rent growth slows.
stability
incremental development program
ADU Program
1,000+ units over five years
Management says 1,000+ accessory dwelling units are planned over five years. It is not the whole thesis, but it is one of the few internal growth levers on the page.
small growth lever
Key numbers
96.3%
occupancy rate
Physical occupancy tells you how full the buildings are, so what: EQR is still keeping almost all units leased.
63.0%
operating margin
Operating margin means profit after running the properties, so what: this portfolio is still highly profitable.
4.7%
dividend yield
Dividend yield is your annual cash payout at today's stock price, so what: you are getting paid while waiting for growth.
$68
18-month target
That target is 11% above $61.10, so what: the near-term upside case is decent, not huge.
Financial health
A
strength
- balance sheet grade A — very strong financial position
- risk rank 2 — safer than 80% of stocks
- price stability 95 / 100
- net profit margin 36.5% — keeps 36 cents of every dollar in revenue
- return on equity 10% — $0.10 profit for every $1 investors have put in
A with balance sheet grade and risk rank standing out. your money faces less risk here than at most public companies.
Total return vs. market
You invested $10,000 in EQR 3 years ago → it's now worth $11,030.
The index would have given you $13,920.
source: institutional data · total return
What just happened
beat estimates
Last quarter, EQR delivered $0.98 EPS against a $0.61 estimate, a 60.7% beat.
The beat mattered because rent trends stayed firm. In the September interim, rental revenue rose 4.6%, same-store revenue rose 3.0%, same-store NOI rose 2.8%, and occupancy ended at 96.3%.
$0.98
actual EPS
$0.61
est. EPS
60.7%
EPS surprise
the number that mattered
The 60.7% EPS beat mattered because it showed operations held up better than the market expected.
-
equity residential reported solid results for the september interim.
-
rental revenue of $782.4 million grew 4.6% over the prior-year period tally of $748.3 million, driven by continued healthy operating fundamentals across most of its markets.
-
same-store portfolio revenues and net operating income (noi) increased 3.0% and 2.8%, respectively.
-
at quarter’s end, the portfolio consisted of 86,320 apartment units that included a 96.3% same-store physical occupancy rate, up 20 basis points from the previous year.
-
normalized funds from operations (nffo) increased 3.9% to $399.5 million, leading to $1.02 nffo per share.
source: company earnings report, 2026
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What could go wrong
the top risk is apartment supply pressure in EQR's core markets.
high
new apartment supply in coastal markets
Management guided same-store NOI growth to just 0.5–2.5% for 2026. If new units hit faster than demand absorbs them, rent growth weakens first and margins follow.
puts pressure on the same-store engine that generates $2.7B of the $2.9B shown here
med
expense growth outrunning revenue growth
2026 guidance shows same-store revenue growth of 1.2–3.2% against expense growth of 3.0–4.0%. That's the kind of math that turns acceptable rent growth into weak NOI growth.
margin pressure matters more here than headline occupancy
med
multifamily regulation and litigation
DOJ and broader multifamily-industry scrutiny could affect rent-setting and tenant-screening practices across 310 properties. For a scale landlord, compliance changes rarely stay small for long.
operational friction on a portfolio of 86,320 units
If revenue lands near 1.2% while expenses run near 4.0%, the spread compresses fast — and that matters more than the 4.7% yield.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
calendar
citi miami property ceo conference
March 3, 2026 — management gets a clean stage to explain whether the low end of 2026 guidance is caution or the new normal.
metric
same-store noi growth
The guided range is 0.5–2.5%. If results keep hugging the low end, the income story stays intact but the upside story gets thinner.
trend
adu pipeline execution
1,000+ units over five years is not huge relative to 86,320 existing units, but it is one of the few visible internal growth projects on the page.
risk
doj multifamily scrutiny
Watch for any change to rent-setting or screening practices. When regulators focus on landlords, scale is both the advantage and the target.
Analyst rankings
earnings predictability
60 / 100
in human-speak, analysts think this is steadier than a typical cyclical stock, but not predictable enough to sleep through every quarter.
risk rank
2
This sits in the safer end of the market. You are buying stability, not hypergrowth.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
institutions have been net buying for 3 consecutive quarters — 340 buyers vs. 289 sellers in 3q2025. total institutional holdings: 0.3B shares. net buying for 3 quarters.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
$52
$83
$61
current price
$68
target midpoint · +11% from current · 3-5yr high: $110 (+80% · 17% ann'l return)
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