Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) and Smartstop Self Storage REIT (NYSE:SMA) Head to Head Contrast

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) and Smartstop Self Storage REIT (NYSE:SMA) are both real estate companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk, dividends and institutional ownership.

Dividends

Digital Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $4.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Smartstop Self Storage REIT pays an annual dividend of $1.63 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.8%. Digital Realty Trust pays out 236.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Smartstop Self Storage REIT pays out 1,086.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Digital Realty Trust and Smartstop Self Storage REIT”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Digital Realty Trust	$6.11 billion	11.17	$1.31 billion	$2.06	94.30
Smartstop Self Storage REIT	$281.14 million	6.64	-$1.55 million	$0.15	224.63

Digital Realty Trust has higher revenue and earnings than Smartstop Self Storage REIT. Digital Realty Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Smartstop Self Storage REIT, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

Digital Realty Trust has a beta of 1.03, meaning that its share price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Smartstop Self Storage REIT has a beta of 0.5, meaning that its share price is 50% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Digital Realty Trust and Smartstop Self Storage REIT’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Digital Realty Trust	11.80%	3.34%	1.59%
Smartstop Self Storage REIT	4.38%	1.00%	0.54%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

99.7% of Digital Realty Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Digital Realty Trust shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.7% of Smartstop Self Storage REIT shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Digital Realty Trust and Smartstop Self Storage REIT, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Digital Realty Trust	0	6	24	1	2.84
Smartstop Self Storage REIT	1	3	4	2	2.70

Digital Realty Trust currently has a consensus target price of $218.17, indicating a potential upside of 12.31%. Smartstop Self Storage REIT has a consensus target price of $36.44, indicating a potential upside of 8.14%. Given Digital Realty Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Digital Realty Trust is more favorable than Smartstop Self Storage REIT.

Summary

Digital Realty Trust beats Smartstop Self Storage REIT on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Digital Realty Trust

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. operates as a real estate investment trust, which engages in the provision of data center, colocation and interconnection solutions. It serves the following industries: artificial intelligence (AI), networks, cloud, digital media, mobile, financial services, healthcare, and gaming. The company was founded on March 9, 2004, and is headquartered in Dallas, TX.

About Smartstop Self Storage REIT

Symmetry Medical Inc. (Symmetry) is a medical device solutions company, including surgical instruments, orthopedic implants, and sterilization cases and trays. The Company designs, develops and offers worldwide production and supply chain capabilities for these products to customers in the orthopedic industry, and other medical device markets (including but not limited to arthroscopy, dental, laparoscopy, osteobiologic, and endoscopy segments). It also manufactures specialized non-healthcare products, primarily in the aerospace industry. The Company operates in two segments: original equipment manufacturer (OEM) solutions and symmetry surgical. On August 15, 2011, the Company acquired PSC Industries, Inc’s Olsen Medical division. On December 29, 2011 it acquired the surgical instruments product portfolio from Codman & Shurtleff, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson Company.