News · Sun Communities, Inc. (SUI) · Real Estate

Sun Communities falls 4.1% after third-quarter results drive the decline

Session of October 27, 2026 · Published October 28, 2026 · 3 min read

What happened

Sun Communities (SUI) fell 4.1% on October 27, 2026, after its third-quarter results missed analysts' estimates and executives held an earnings call the same day. The company reported results and held the call, according to GlobeNewsWire and Seeking Alpha. Trading volume ran at 2.0 times its 20-day average as the S&P 500 rose 0.6% on the day, while the Real Estate sector median fell 0.2%.

Closing price over the last 30 trading sessions. On October 27, 2026, SUI closed at $114.97, down 4.1% on the day and 0.1% higher than 30 sessions earlier.

How big was the move

The decline was 3.0 times a typical daily move for this stock and was 3.8 percentage points worse than the sector median on the day. The stock fell 3.7% over the last five sessions while the S&P 500 rose 0.1% over the same period, leaving Sun Communities weaker than the broad market in the past week. Market value stood at $14.65 billion and the higher session volume signaled stronger-than-normal investor activity.

Each bar is one day's price change; the outlined bar is October 27, 2026. A typical daily move over the past year was 1.3%, so the latest move equals 3.2 times that. Moves outside the dashed lines (about 2.5%) are unusual.

The technical picture

The stock traded 0.1% above its 20-day moving average but 1.5% below its 50-day moving average and 7.0% below its 200-day moving average, with the 50-day average below the 200-day average, a sign of a weak longer-term trend. The Relative Strength Index (14 days) read 47, in a neutral range between 30 and 70. Sun Communities sat 16.6% below its 52-week high; it rose 2.4% over one month but fell 10.1% over three months and fell 7.3% over one year. Over the past year the stock trailed the S&P 500 by 21.0 percentage points.

Closing price over the past year. SUI ends the period 16.2% below its 52-week high, below its 50-day average ($116.71) and below its 200-day average ($123.65).

Volatility measures showed the stock’s 60-day annualized volatility at 21%, lower than 74% of its own readings over five years, indicating that recent price swings were modest by historical standards. Combined with a beta of 0.17, the indicators suggest the stock tends to move less than the market and that the recent drop represented a relatively large move for the company.

Fundamentals and valuation

For the four quarters through September 30, 2026, Sun Communities reported revenue of $2.06 billion, a decline of 18.0% from a year earlier. Diluted earnings per share for that period were $-6.11, with earnings per share growth having fallen 176.6% versus a year earlier. Gross margin widened to 60.9% from 46.1% a year earlier, and operating margin increased to 23.5% from 19.3% a year earlier. Free-cash-flow margin stood at 30.7% and return on invested capital was 4.0%.

Quarterly revenue by period end. The latest quarter brought $558M, 19.9% less than the same quarter a year earlier.

Balance-sheet metrics showed net debt of 2.6 times EBITDA, and share count decreased by 0.7% over one year. Free-cash-flow yield was 4.3%. PromtFinance scores ranked the company high on Quality at 94 and Stability at 91, while Growth scored 10 and Value scored 34 within the sector, highlighting strengths in financial quality and steadiness but weakness in growth and valuation measures.

Earnings and analyst expectations

Sun Communities reported on October 26, 2026, with earnings per share of $1.00 for the quarter, against $1.25 expected, a result 20.0% below estimates. The report was followed by an earnings call on October 27, 2026, in which executives Charles Young, John McLaren, Robert Garechana and Aaron Weiss spoke with analysts from firms including Wells Fargo and UBS, according to GlobeNewsWire and Seeking Alpha.

Diluted earnings per share by quarter. The latest quarter shows $1.00, against $0.07 in the same quarter a year earlier.

The company had zero consecutive quarters beating estimates; the average surprise over the last four reports was 100.0% above estimates, and the typical two-day reaction after recent reports was that the stock fell 1.2%. The computed interpretation of the session identifies the earnings release as the direct cause of the decline, consistent with the larger-than-typical move and elevated trading volume.

What to watch

Next report scheduled for November 4, 2026.
Consensus price target $136.36, 18.6% above the closing price, based on 21 analysts and a consensus rating of Buy.
Similar sessions in the past five years: 14 sessions with a decline of at least 4.1%; twenty trading days later the median result was a gain of 3.1%, and 9 of 14 were higher.
Net debt of 2.6 times EBITDA and free-cash-flow margin of 30.7% for the four quarters through September 30, 2026.
PromtFinance scores: Quality 94, Stability 91, Revisions 66, Momentum 45, Value 34, Growth 10.

Full SUI analysis: scores, chart and financials →