Essex Property Trust, Inc. vs Zscaler Inc — how do they compare? Essex Property Trust, Inc. trades at $282.01 (market cap $18.15B), while Zscaler Inc trades at $176.53 (market cap $28.87B). The key difference: Zscaler Inc is the larger of the two by market cap, and Essex Property Trust, Inc. pays a 3.93% dividend while Zscaler Inc pays none. Which is the better fit depends on your goals.
| ESS | ZS | |
|---|---|---|
Market Cap | $18.15B | $28.87B |
Sector | Real Estate | Technology |
52-Week High | $298.33 | $336.27 |
52-Week Low | $239.61 | $118.05 |
Enterprise Value | $24.75B | $27.20B |
Dividend Yield | 3.93% | — |
Signals from Pluang's Aura AI — not financial advice
ESS trades at $281.92, down 0.46% on the day, with a bearish technical signal from moving averages and oscillators. The company reported a Q2 2026 EPS miss ($0.97 vs. $1.46 expected) but raised full-year guidance, reflecting strong property NOI growth. Revenue reached $1.89B in 2025 with a net income margin of 35.48%, though profitability is projected to moderate in 2026. Recent news highlights institutional buying by Amundi and recognition as a top GreenTech company.
The outlook is mixed: raised guidance and solid fundamentals support upside toward the $305.86 consensus price target, but technical weakness and a high debt load pose near-term risks. Investor sentiment is cautiously optimistic, with 40% of analysts rating the stock a Buy, though the bearish technical picture suggests potential volatility ahead.
Zscaler (ZS) trades at $176.11, showing modest daily movement. The stock exhibits a bullish technical trend with strong analyst support, evidenced by 42 buy ratings and a consensus price target of $191.81. Recent earnings consistently beat expectations, with Q1 2026 EPS of $1.08 surpassing the $1.01 forecast. Revenue growth is robust, increasing from $1.1B in 2022 to $2.67B in 2025, though the company remains unprofitable with a net income margin of -2.44%.
The outlook is positive due to strong revenue growth, leadership in cloud security, and bullish analyst sentiment. Key risks include persistent unprofitability, high valuation multiples like a P/S of 8.94, and competitive pressures in the cybersecurity sector. The upcoming Q2 2026 earnings report on September 3, 2026, will be critical for validating growth trajectory and investor confidence.
Trailing returns across standard periods
Latest headlines on both assets
Essex Property Trust owns a portfolio of 253 apartment communities with over 62,000 units and is developing three additional properties with 571 units. The company focuses on owning large, high-quality properties on the West Coast in the urban and suburban submarkets of Southern California, Northern California, and Seattle.
Read more on ESS →Zscaler is a security-as-a-service firm that offers its customers cloud-delivered solutions for protecting user devices and data. The firm leverages its position in 150 colocation data centers to deliver traditionally appliance-based security functionality, such as firewalls and sandboxes, as a completely cloud-native platform. The firm focuses on large enterprise customers and offers two primary product suites: Zscaler Internet Access, which securely connects users to externally managed application and websites (such as Salesforce and Google), and Zscaler Private Access, which securely connects users to internally managed applications. Both product suites encompass a broad gamut of capabilities situated across the traditional security stack.
Read more on ZS →