Académique Documents
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Nithin Thomas
Professor Emily Choi
BPS, 4305, 005, Strategic Management
12/05/2017
Background
AvalonBay Communities, Inc. is a publicly traded real estate investment trust. The
Company develops, redevelops, acquires, owns and operates multifamily communities (1). The
company was established in 1978 as Greenbriar Development Company, and in October 2, 1998
the current name was adopted (2). As of the end of January 2017, AvalonBay has owned 75,038
apartment units, all of which are located in 10 states and the District of Columbia. AvalonBay
I. Financial Analysis
The AvalonBay averages 30% higher at expenses, helping to prove that the company is
staying above its cash outflow. Also the company’s assets have been growing on average of 13%
over the course of five years. AvalonBay holds the largest market cap and has lower liabilities
giving it an edge over its competitors. Overall, AvalonBay is a financially healthy firm that has
been growing generally by 11% in its market, evidence to this company being profitable.
1.2 Performance
Considering the percentages shown in Table 1.,1 proves that AvalonBay revenues had
been increasing. From 2012 to 2013 revenues had increased by 41%. Additionally, revenues in
years from 2013 to 2014, 2014 to 2015, and 2015 to 2016 had also increased by 15%, 10%, and
10%, respectively. Furthermore, Table 1.2, shows that expenses had an initially drop and then
began to increase. From 2012 to 2013, expenses increased by 72%, then during 2013 to 2014
expenses dropped -10%, and thereafter expenses had increased 5%, and 12% over the course of
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2014 to 2015 and 2015 to 2016, respectively. Even though revenues are on a negative trend, and
expenses on a positive trend, net income seems to relieve this negative circumstance that may
come from these trends. Taking a look at Table 1.2, net income has been positively increasing.
Net income had dropped by -17%, during 2012 to 2013, but in 2013 to 2014 net income
increased by 98%. Then from 2014 to 2015 there was only a 6% increase in net income, and a
38% net income increase from 2015 to 2016. The changes seen in the income statement in Table
1.2 can be associated with the changes from the balance sheet, in Table 2.2.
Taking into account the percentage of assets, shown in Table 2.2, that were acquired over the
course of five years by AvalonBay, explains the influence the acquisition of assets has on the
trends of the income statement mentioned earlier. During 2012 to 2013, assets increased by 37%,
this explains why that same year revenues increased by 41%; also, the new acquisition of assets
meant cash or other assets had to been used to acquire new assets, this lead to the 72% increase
in expenses the same time period; furthermore, all of these movements taken place during 2012
to 2013 points out why net income was -17%. In 2013 to 2014, AvalonBay incurred 6%
liabilities, at the same time expenses fell -10%, this could mean that the company took a loan to
pay some of its liabilities, leading to -10% in expenses and an increase in liabilities by 6% this
period. Then in 2014 to 2015 revenue increased by 10%, which was 5% lower than the previous
year, but liabilities was -1%, an explanation for this is that AvalonBay used revenues to pay off
it liabilities leading to a -1%, and the revenue being reduced by 5% - compared to previous year.
Lastly, in 2015 to 2016 period, assets grew by 6%, and liabilities increased by 9%, this is due to
the fact that in order to acquire 6% of new assets, cash other assets had to be sold, plus expenses
from maintain newly acquired assets can lead to the increased 12% in liabilities.
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Looking at Table 3.1, the closest three competitors to AvalonBay Communities based on
revenues, gross margin, net income, EBITDA, total assets, total liabilities, PE ratio, market cap,
employees, and share price are Icahn Enterprise LP, Lecucadia National Corp., and
Weyerhaeuser Co. (3). AvalonBay Communities stands out by having 25,385 M in market cap,
which is 70% more than Icahn Enterprise LP, 68% more than Lecucadia National Corp, and 2%
more than Weyerhaeuser Co. AvalonBay achieves these great numbers with only 3,071
employees, whereas the other competitors has over 10,000 employees up to 91,000 employees.
Additionally, AvalonBay is able to keep its liabilities 75%, 78%, and 24% lower than its
competitors Icahn Enterprise LP, Lecucadia National Corp., and Weyerhaeuser Co., respectively.
This could be due to the fact that the AvalonBay owns average of 38% less in assets than its
competitors. Finally, AvalonBay stands out from its competitors by having a gross margin of
76.61% - which is over 58% more than its competition - and a PE ratio of 25.29 stating that
investors are anticipating high growth in the future, making this a profitable company.
AvalonBay Communities maintains a good position in its industry with its ability to
grow. Additionally, the high barriers of entry in this industry acts in favor of AvalonBay by
allowing it to reap the gains of their current market without having to face any new imminent
threats. The company has various opportunities to appeal to the younger generation of renters but
is only taking small steps to do so, this could affect the company in the long run.
AvalonBay Communities is hesitant on following the current market trends but for the
wrong reasons. The company is interested in focusing on “family oriented renters who prefer the
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suburbs,” instead of becoming more appealable to the younger generations (4). AvalonBay
communities’ renters are mostly in their 30s, which tends to make sense to the company due to
the fact that 30 to 44 years old renters take up 23% - the second largest - in rental housing in the
United States (4), (10). The company’s slow approach to attracting the age group under the age
of 30, who all make 51% of the rental housing market could be damaging in the long run (10).
AvalonBay has the potential to expand in its markets by becoming more favorable towards the
51%.
The growth being at the center point of the multifamily industry has presented various
favorable opportunities for industries top competitors since threats from new entrant is very low.
The markets that AvalonBay controls, such as Seattle, D.C., California, Washington, and New
York all are in need of thousands of apartment homes. In Seattle, 98,000 apartment homes are
needed to be built (5); D.C., 17,000 apartment homes (6); California, 664,000 apartment homes
(7); Washington, 137,000 apartment homes (8); and New York City metropolitan area 279,000
apartment homes (9). Building and expanding newer communities into established markets will
allow AvalonBay to tap into the lack of apartment homes in their areas. Even if the company
does expand, there are many competitor challenges that should be overcome in-order to gain
Throughout the multifamily industry competitors have begun to shift their strategies to
coincide with their new believes about the industry, which AvalonBay is slowly beginning to
realize. As an increasing number of millennials enter the job market, they tend to be attracted to
communities which are close-by grocery stores, and places of employment. Additionally,
competitors have increased their spending on apartment amenities for showcasing to potential
residents the amazing living conditions. On top of amenities, competitors are becoming tech
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savvy throughout their communities by installing USB port outlets, Wi-Fi, iCafes and other web
access features. To top this, some competitors give its residents control over technological
features in their apartments aiding to become more resident focused. Furthermore, fitness center
are now being upgraded to host yoga events, workout sessions, etc. to help stimulate a sociable
environment between the residents. On the contrary to these various opportunities, AvalonBay
has not made any significant changes to its current markets, which is understandable due to their
multifamily market. AvalonBay has showed various capabilities through the multiple awards the
company has earned over the past couple of years. On top of this, the company’s attitudes
towards wanting to expand its green footprint within its communities gives it another edge up
against its competitors. Overall, AvalonBay Communities past history and future endeavors
3.2 Capabilities
AvalonBay Communities maintains a stronghold at being ranked top in its industry for
sustainability, and environmentally friendly efforts from the numerous awards it has received
over the past couple of years. Last year in 2016, AvalonBay was ranked in the top third among
500 of its peers in Newsweek Green Rankings for being a leader in environmental practices
within the multifamily real estate investment trust (REIT) (11). Top executive, Chief Investment
Officer Mathew Birenbaum from AvalonBay made a comment in the AvalonBay press release,
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he stated, “environmental responsibility is core to our business and a critical part of developing
sustainable communities,” helping to assure in the honorable ranking received by the company
(11). Late in 2015, AvalonBay was awarded the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark
(GRESB) survey for its top ratings in various environmental categories such as energy, GHG
emissions, energy and waste (11). This award comes with no surprise to the team at AvalonBay
because it stands as a result of the company’s priorities being established in its 2020 Corporate
Responsibility Goals which laid out the various markers the company is striving towards
AvalonBay pointed out the achievements it plans on making throughout the company in the
coming years: reducing energy use by 15%, reduce water use by 15%, increase company’s net
promoter score by 33%, reach the 75 percentile for associate management, increase annual
th
community investment by $2.2M (13). Since 2014, AvalonBay has shown positive signs towards
fulfilling its 2020 goals from its 2014 Corporate Responsibility Report. The report showed that
AvalonBay has accomplished a total reduction in water consumption by 2.1%, energy usage by
5%, and emissions by 1.3% while moving forth on having new design and construction standards
in place that favor the environment (13). This report on top of the awards AvalonBay has
communities and projects aimed at increasing its environmental practices, and acts as a beacon
on the 2020 Corporate Responsibility Goals that are nailed into the company culture.
3.3 Strategies
AvalonBay Communities exhausts any energy it has to go the additional mile for its
residents, stakeholders, and the environment. The push AvalonBay is making can be easily
visible throughout the companies implementation of its Building Certification policy, external
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rating programs focused on environmental and energy efficiency, and resident satisfaction
surveys. The companies Building Certification policy is created for the use on “all new high-rise
and mid-rise construction projects,” in doing so AvalonBay hopes to add more working parts
into the 2020 Corporate Responsibility Goal. The policy is enacted to help the company stand
out from its competitors through the company’s strategy to use external parties to rate the
companies projects on whether the developments meet environmental and energy efficient
standards set forth by the third party organizations. Successful ratings shows to the competitors,
stakeholders, and customers in the market on AvalonBay’s ability to follow up with their
commitments. The company has already made moves that signifies this. In early 2016,
AvalonBay owned 12 LEED and 10 Energy Star certified communities, plus 23 more
communities are working on achieving their certifications as well (12). These changes happening
within the company helps it to greatly stand out from its peers, and is recognized by other
agencies for it. Most importantly, AvalonBay has realized some of the best methods to keep in
touch with its residents as a result benefit the company with multiple awards.
AvalonBay has been able to expand their attention to the integral part of their business,
its residents, by having direct communication methods established that bridges the gap between
the decision makers of the company and the residents. Having direct communication methods
such as, resident online forums, and resident satisfaction surveys - conducted by both AvalonBay
and third parties – able the company to figure out its relationship with residents. This can be
proven in the recent press release by AvalonBay were it summarized the company being ranked
number one in the multifamily public REIT for online reputation (14). In the press release
AvalonBay, pointed out the hidden strategies utilized by the company that allows it to earn its
award. As mentioned earlier, the approach from AvalonBay included surveying residents, regular
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online discussion forums, digesting feedback from third party sites, social media, and AvalonBay
surveys. This in turn resulted in the associates collecting price less information that enabled the
company to deliver distinctive living experience for more than 140,000 residents (14).
AvalonBay strategy to figure out the wants and needs of its residents positively impacts overall
goal to grow in the coming years. On top of this, AvalonBay delivers a unique environment
AvalonBay Communities current strategy is continuing its expansion into its current
market through sustainable developments. The company achieves this strategy by focusing on its
Building Certification Policy that was mentioned in its press release. The Building Certification
Policy lays out future and current development plans on its communities. It enacts sustainable
practices and developments that needs to be met by contractors and associates of the company.
The purpose of the policy is to drive in the company's overarching goal of becoming sustainable.
By doing so, AvalonBay hopes to attract the generation that are now beginning to join the
workforce to utilize the environmentally friendly establishment that think of their future in this
world. Furthermore, AvalonBay understands the untapped potential that is present by becoming a
sustainable multifamily corporation. People will relate AvalonBay to positive comments, take
part in support AvalonBay’s practices and at the end attract more investors to join the companies
drive to grow.
Investment, Automotive, Energy, Metals, Railcar, Gaming, Food Packaging, Mining, Real Estate
and Home Fashion (15). Leucadia National Corporation is a conglomerate and investment
holding company in financial services and merchant banking (16). Due to the major difference
both Icahn Enterprises and Leucadia National Corporation has with AvalonBay Communities is
the company’s diversified portfolio, the two companies are safeguarded from changes that may
pose itself in the real estate market. Diversification helps both Icahn Enterprises and Leucadia
National Corporation in four ways financial, growth, risk protection, and market share.
Financially these companies have an upper hand whenever they decide to make themselves
known in a new market, or acquiring new companies is easier due its cash flow and easier
borrowing power, in turn increasing both of the companies’ profits. Growth is another advantage
for the two companies, because both of them are exposed to different markets that allows it to
have the capabilities of exploiting the resources or opportunities that may presents in the
markets. Diversified holdings showcase its understanding of risk protection, which means the
company as a whole will not be affected greatly due to its ownership in multiple companies that
creates an imaginary safety net for the company during different cycles in the market. Finally
being diversified in more than one sector of the markets gives the company's wide market
share.
Weyerhaeuser Company is the largest private owners of timberlands. The company owns
more than 13 million acres of timberlands in the U.S. and another 14 million acres in Canada.
(17). the strength that stands out the most with the firm is its operations. The company
manufactures and distributes building materials for home and other structures. Due to the fact
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that development of multifamily and homes in the United States are built solely using wood
materials, Weyerhaeuser benefits from this due to its $25 billion market cap (Table 3.1).
V. Recommendations
AvalonBay is a financially healthy firm that has been growing on average by 11% in its
market, evidence to its profitability. AvalonBay maintains a good position in its industry with the
more opportunity to grow. AvalonBay current path has small benefits, there are multiple
opportunities available for the company if it shifts resources and funds to becoming more
sustainable. Also, AvalonBay has the potential to revolutionize the multifamily industry by being
the first agency to change its method of approach at building relationships with residents.
5.2 Sustainability
AvalonBay Communities has areas in the company that can be optimized, but it also has
strengths that it should impress upon the market. AvalonBay through its expansion on
sustainable developments solidifies the futuristic thinking the company has. From sustainable
buildings AvalonBay will benefit in the long term by greatly reducing its operational costs, and
eventually in a short period of time be able to even out the costs associated with sustainable
developments.
Sustainability creates a unique diversity in communities that allows residents to feel energized,
clean, and fresh while trekking through the areas inside the community. For example, the
that positively interact with the overall community culture, helping to lower resident turn over
and even possibly increase resident satisfaction rate to 100%. Sustainability further adds flavor to
the resident’s way of living. From environmentally friendly and sustainable developments
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AvalonBay enables apartment homes and common areas to broaden each of its meaning.
Apartment homes through the sustainable architecture will support various positive living
accommodations not typical in the general apartment homes. Common living areas could
become and identify itself as being spaces that used for networking, learning centers, etc. with
those who use it. Apartment homes could be built towards the needs of residents similar to
ordering a custom car that includes whatever the customer likes and wants.
AvalonBay avid press releases to its stakeholders and shareholders creates accountability
within the firm that helps to share its values, and helps to build a cohesive society. Keeping
AvalonBay’s stakeholders and shareholders on tab with the company’s sustainable directions
shows the impact AvalonBay is having on the sustainable issues it is trying to tackle. Information
being provided to others adds value to AvalonBay by improving its process and systems, gives
competitive advantage, enhances brand image, and most importantly builds trusts. The
operations. AvalonBay s’ mindful decision to stay sustainable makes consumers more attracted
to their products and services which in turn furthers the company's’ competitive advantage and
mindset as they push on in the coming years, then the company will definitely continue to grow
in its market. The green programs used by AvalonBay currently are helping to position the
company as a positive corporate citizen among the millennials whom as a generation is more
attracted to participating in organization that benefits the world. By being socially responsible
AvalonBay, attracts talented good people to run its day to day operations. This also helps to
create an innovative human resource force in AvalonBay, who all have the strengths to stay
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current with market trends and thinks ten steps ahead of competitors. Therefore, staying on the
current track of sustainability has benefits that can bring bountiful funds, growth, employees and
AvalonBay Communities has in place various methods for collecting resident feedback,
but there is an opportunity for AvalonBay to positively exploit its residents for crucial
information. The company sole source for collecting information from its residents is through
surveys conducted by third parties and themselves. From this approach AvalonBay loses
majority of valuable information that residents who do not take part in the surveys wanted to
express, but instead just kept the info to themselves and affect their relationship with the
company. An effective solution to this problem is by creating an ingenious program where the
associates of AvalonBay takes steps to build a one on one relationship with the resident.
AvalonBay already maintains a good relationship with its residents, but it is generic with
its peers, therefore an opportunity permits to leap into a creative program used in colleges around
the nation that can build long lasting relationship with residents. In colleges around the nation,
students living on campus are given extra care and attention by the residential staff. The staff
who have the most interacting with the students are called, resident assistant (RA). A RAs’ main
priorities include making sure the students that live in his section of the dormitory are taken care
of, are able to balance school and personal life, and most importantly be a resource. Hence
Strong healthy relationships between people leads to happy people. The sole purpose of the RA
program for AvalonBay will be to increase resident growth in its communities and lower resident
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turnover. The RA program can increase resident growth and lower resident turnover in the
following ways:
On the dates where the special occasions takes place an AvalonBay associate will
Residents will receive thank you notes end of every month that will contain a survey
Following the approaches mentioned above can have long lasting impressions on the livelihood
of AvalonBay residents. Taking the initiative to learn about a resident’s birthday, or a special
occasion by an AvalonBay associate, who in the resident mind is someone responsible for
collecting rent and sending complaints to, will change the resident’s perception of AvalonBay
associates. This in turn will create a domino effect where residents will spread the good word
about the treatment they are receiving at AvalonBay communities and as a result more people
will be longing to stay at AvalonBay communities. On the contrary to the benefits, AvalonBay
will face multiple challenges to getting residents to jump on board a RA type program.
negative reactions in the very beginning of the program. Due to the lack of face to face
interactions today’s residents have with employees of an apartment complex, makes the idea of
engaging in a conversation with them very unusual. Therefore, current residents in the first
couple of months will not be welcoming of this new program, but new and incoming residents -
who may have come from another place due to bad reasons or is starting out living by
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themselves for the first time – will be more open towards the RA program. Adopting a resident
assistant program allows AvalonBay to evolve its relationship with residents from surveys to
creating a unique relationship that residents cannot create with any other peers other than with
AvalonBay associates.
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Works Cited
1. Mergent online, Mergent Online,
www.mergentonline.com/companydetail.php?pagetype.
2. Mergent online, Mergent Online,
http://www.mergentonline.com/companydetail.php?pagetype=history&compnum
ber=79332
3. Mergent online, Mergent Online,
www.mergentonline.com/competitors.php?compnumber=79332.
4. Caulfield, John. “5 Intriguing Trends to Track in the Multifamily Housing Game.”
Building Design + Construction, 31 Jan. 2015,
www.bdcnetwork.com/5-intriguing-trends-track-multifamily-housing-game.
5. We Are Apartments. “Seattle.” Learn about the Demand for Apartments in Your Area,
www.weareapartments.org/data/metro/seattle.
6. We Are Apartments. “District of Columbia.” Learn about the Demand for Apartments in
Your Area,
www.weareapartments.org/data/state/district-of-columbia.
7. We Are Apartments. “California.” Learn about the Demand for Apartments in Your Area,
www.weareapartments.org/data/state/california.
8. We Are Apartments. “Washington.” Learn about the Demand for Apartments in Your
Area,
www.weareapartments.org/data/state/washington.
9. We Are Apartments. “New York City.” Learn about the Demand for Apartments in Your
Area,
www.weareapartments.org/data/metro/new-york-city.
10. National MultiFamily Housing Council. “Quick Facts: Resident Demographics.”
National Multifamily Housing Council, 2015,
www.nmhc.org/Content.aspx?id=4708.
11. Rhoads, Edmund. “Press Release." AvalonBay Communities Inc. 21 Sep. 2015.
http://investors.avalonbay.com/file/Index?KeyFile=31182791
12. Conway, Kurt, “Press Release.” AvalonBay Communities Inc. 4 Jan. 2016.
http://investors.avalonbay.com/file/Index?KeyFile=32424186
13. Rhoads, Edmund. “Press Release." AvalonBay Communities Inc. 5 July. 2015.
http://investors.avalonbay.com/file/Index?KeyFile=30198732
14. Conway, Kurt, “Press Release.” AvalonBay Communities Inc. 8 Mar. 2017.
http://investors.avalonbay.com/file/Index?KeyFile=38443180
15. “Icahn Enterprises LP.” Reuters, 9 Jan. 2017.
https://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/companyProfile/IEP.C
16. “Leucadia National.” Wikipedia, 12 Nov. 2017.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leucadia_National
17. “Weyerhaeuser.” Wikipedia, 14 Aug. 2017.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weyerhaeuser
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Table 1.1
Table 1.2
AvalonBay Communities, Inc. 2012 - 2013 2013 - 2014 2014 - 2015 2015 - 2016
Income Statement Percentage Percentage Inc. or Percentage Inc. or Percentage Inc. or Percentage Inc. or
Change Dec. Dec. Dec. Dec.
Table 2.1
Table 2.2
AvalonBay Communities, Inc. 2012 - 2013 2013 - 2014 2014 - 2015 2015 - 2016
Balance Statement Percentage Percentage Inc. or Percentage Inc. or Percentage Inc. or Percentage Inc. or
Change Dec. Dec. Dec. Dec.
Total Assets 37% 6% 5% 6%
Total liabilities 56% 6% -1% 9%
Total equity 26% 5% 9% 3%
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