As growing concerns over the resurgence of COVID-19 cases and rising inflation could keep the overall stock market under pressure in the near term, REITs MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) and Annaly Capital Management (NYSE:NLY) should attract investor attention for a steady income stream. But which of these two stocks is a better buy now? Read more to find out.MFA Financial, Inc. (MFA) operates as a real estate investment trust in the United States. The company invests in residential mortgage assets, whole residential loans, and mortgage servicing rights-related assets. On the other hand, diversified capital manager Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NLY) invests in and finances residential and commercial assets. The company invests in various types of agency mortgage-backed securities, non-agency residential mortgage assets, and residential mortgage loans.
With several parts of the world witnessing a resurgence of COVID-19 cases and rising concerns over the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus, the stock market is expected to remain under pressure in the near term. Amid this situation, investors could turn toward REIT stocks to hedge their portfolios against short-term market volatility by ensuring a steady income stream. As a result, both MFA and NLY might rally.
MFA has gained 9.7% over the past nine months, while NLY has returned 0.5%. Also, MFA’s 14.8% gain over the past year is significantly higher than NLY’s 2.3% return. Moreover, MFA is the clear winner with a 13.4% gain versus NLY’s negative return in terms of year-to-date performance.