COMP vs Z: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?
Last updated August 2026
Short answer
COMP and Z are similarly sized, but Z trades noticeably cheaper on forward earnings (11.33x vs 14.26x): the market is paying up for COMP's profile and pricing Z more conservatively, or for faster growth. Which you prefer comes down to the drivers you believe, and whether adding either over-concentrates what you already own.
COMP vs Z: the tie-breaker metrics
Same yardstick, side by side (as of August 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.
| Metric | COMP | Z | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forward P/E | 14.26 | 11.33 | Valuation on next year's expected earnings, the same yardstick for both. Lower is cheaper for that growth; higher means the market is paying up. |
| Trailing P/E | 569.50 | 136.24 | Valuation on the last 12 months. A big drop from trailing to forward means the market expects earnings to jump, so more growth is already in the price. |
| Beta | 2.35 | 1.95 | Volatility vs the market. Above 1 swings harder than the index; below 1 is steadier. Higher beta means bigger drawdowns to hold through. |
| Price vs 52-week range | 66% of range | 7% of range | Where today's price sits between the 52-week low and high. Near the high is momentum with less margin of safety; near the low is out of favor or a discount, depending on why. |
| Price / book | 3.01 | 1.77 | How much you pay over book value. Very high can signal an asset-light, high-return business or a rich price. |
Reading it: Z is the cheaper of the two on forward earnings, but cheaper is not the same as better. Pair the valuation with growth (how far the forward P/E sits below the trailing P/E) and risk (beta) before you decide.
Before you buy: how COMP and Z affect your concentration
The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. COMP and Z share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.
This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined COMP and Z exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.
What does Compass (COMP) do?
Compass, Inc. is a tech-enabled residential real estate company that operates an owned-brokerage model in the United States. It recruits real estate agents onto a proprietary software platform that handles marketing, client management, and transaction workflow, and it earns revenue primarily as a share of the sales commissions its agents generate when homes change hands. Because agents keep most of each commission under negotiated splits, Compass keeps only a thin slice of a very large revenue number, so its margins are structurally low and its results track the volume of home sales closely. The company has expanded into adjacent services such as title, escrow, and mortgage referrals to capture more of each transaction.
What does Zillow Group (Z) do?
Zillow Group, Inc. operates the largest online real estate marketplace in the United States, drawing hundreds of millions of monthly visits across the Zillow, Trulia, and StreetEasy brands. Its business has three pillars. Residential (its For Sale core) connects home shoppers with agents, earning mostly through Premier Agent and Showcase. Rentals monetizes multifamily and single-family listings through advertising and lead generation. Mortgages, run through Zillow Home Loans, originates purchase loans and ties financing into search. Zillow is a marketplace and software company, not a homebuilder or iBuyer, so its revenue tracks how actively people transact rather than the value of homes it owns.
COMP vs Z: how do they differ?
Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.
- COMP drivers: Scale and market leadership; Improving profitability.
- Z drivers: Housing super app and enhanced markets; Rentals as a growth engine.
Which fits which kind of investor
A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: Compass is highly exposed to the housing cycle: when mortgage rates rise or home sales slow, commission revenue falls quickly while many costs remain. For Z, the dominant risk is housing cyclicality: with existing-home sales near multi-decade lows on elevated mortgage rates, Zillow's Residential and Mortgages revenue depend on a depressed transaction market, and a further slowdown or rate shock could stall growth.
COMP or Z: which should you pick?
COMP vs Z: the full fundamentals
COMP. A residential brokerage like Compass reports a very large revenue number, but most of each commission is paid out to agents, so the figure to watch is adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow rather than top-line growth alone. The business is highly cyclical: transaction volume, and therefore revenue, swings with mortgage rates and home-sale activity, so a strong or weak quarter often reflects the housing market more than company-specific execution. Because margins are thin and GAAP results can flip between small profits and losses depending on stock-based compensation and merger costs, investors typically look at agent count, market share, EBITDA margin trend, and cash generation across a full cycle.
Z. These characterizations are qualitative and tied to the asOf date; verify live figures before acting. Zillow is best understood as a growth marketplace stock, so investors tend to weigh revenue growth, segment mix (Rentals and Mortgages versus Residential), and EBITDA margins more than a headline P/E, which can be distorted while the company transitions from GAAP losses to profits. Because there is no dividend, the entire return case rests on growth and eventual free cash flow rather than income.
Headline figures (approximate, FY2025 results (full year ended December 2025) and Q1 2026): COMP shows revenue (fy2025) ~$6.96 billion (+23.7% YoY), principal agents ~21,000 (+~19% YoY), market share (q3 2025) ~5.6% (pre-Anywhere), adjusted ebitda (fy2025) ~$293 million (~4.2% margin); Z shows revenue trend Growing at a strong double-digit pace year over year in early 2026, led by Rentals and Mortgages with a steady Residential base, profitability Reached full-year GAAP profitability, a milestone after years of accounting losses; still reinvesting heavily in Rentals and Mortgages, margins Adjusted EBITDA margin has been expanding into the mid-20s percent range as the model scales; watch the trajectory, not a single quarter, dividend None; Zillow pays no dividend and returns capital mainly through share repurchases, so total return depends on price appreciation.
The bottom line: COMP vs Z
COMP and Z are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined COMP and Z exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.
Wondering how COMP or Z fits the portfolio you already own? Walnut is an AI investing app that connects your brokerage read-only and answers questions like that about your actual holdings: overlap, concentration, and how each position tracks the S&P 500. Compare the best AI portfolio analyzers or see the best AI investing apps in 2026.
Investing in Compass with AI
Connect the broker you already use and ask Walnut's AI how COMP fits what you actually hold: whether you own it already through a fund, what it would do to your concentration, and how it has tracked the S&P 500. Read-only by default, and you approve anything before it reaches your broker.
FAQ
What is the difference between COMP and Z?
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Compass, Inc. Zillow Group, Inc. They show up together because they share investment themes, but they are different businesses, so the better fit depends on which thesis you are expressing.
Is COMP or Z the better stock?
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Neither is universally better; they suit different views and risk levels. Walnut is informational, not investment advice. Compare what each does, the tie-breaker metrics above, and the risks, then decide which fits your thesis and what you already own.
Which is cheaper, COMP or Z?
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On forward P/E (as of August 2026), COMP trades at 14.26x and Z at 11.33x, so Z is the cheaper of the two on next year's expected earnings. A lower multiple is not automatically the better buy: a richer valuation can be justified by faster growth, and a lower one can reflect real risk. Weigh the multiple against how fast each business is compounding.
Should you own both COMP and Z?
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Because they share themes, owning both concentrates you in that theme. That can be intentional (a focused bet) or accidental (less diversification than it looks). Walnut can show your combined exposure across both, and whether adding either over-concentrates you, before you buy.
What are the risks of COMP vs Z?
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COMP: Compass is highly exposed to the housing cycle: when mortgage rates rise or home sales slow, commission revenue falls quickly while many costs remain. Brokerage margins are structurally thin, so even with billions in revenue the company has historically operated near breakeven on a GAAP basis and reported a roughly $58 million net loss for full-year 2025. Its refusal to follow NAR's Clear Cooperation Policy and its private-listings push have triggered litigation, including a dispute with Zillow and an MLS, which creates regulatory and legal uncertainty. Large acquisitions like Anywhere add integration risk and debt, and the company does not pay a dividend, so returns depend on share-price appreciation in a competitive, capital-intensive industry. Z: The dominant risk is housing cyclicality: with existing-home sales near multi-decade lows on elevated mortgage rates, Zillow's Residential and Mortgages revenue depend on a depressed transaction market, and a further slowdown or rate shock could stall growth. Industry structure is a second risk: the NAR commission-lawsuit settlement changed how buyer-agent compensation is disclosed and negotiated, and further rule changes around listings and commissions could reshape how portals like Zillow make money. Competition is intensifying, most notably from CoStar's well-funded Homes.com push, plus News Corp's Realtor.com and Redfin (now owned by Rocket Companies), pressuring traffic and ad pricing. Zillow also faces regulatory and legal scrutiny, including antitrust attention to some listings arrangements. Finally, its full-year GAAP profitability is newer and less proven than at mature peers after a long history of losses and heavy reinvestment.
Walnut is informational, not investment advice. This page is descriptive and not a recommendation to buy or sell COMP or Z; figures are approximate and dated (as of August 2026). Verify current data before investing.