Rayonier (NYSE:RYN) & Smartstop Self Storage REIT (NYSE:SMA) Head-To-Head Review

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Rayonier and Smartstop Self Storage REIT, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Rayonier	1	4	0	1	2.17
Smartstop Self Storage REIT	1	3	4	2	2.70

Rayonier currently has a consensus price target of $24.60, indicating a potential upside of 12.93%. Smartstop Self Storage REIT has a consensus price target of $36.44, indicating a potential upside of 5.94%. Given Rayonier’s higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Rayonier is more favorable than Smartstop Self Storage REIT.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

89.1% of Rayonier shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Rayonier shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.7% of Smartstop Self Storage REIT shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Rayonier pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.8%. Smartstop Self Storage REIT pays an annual dividend of $1.63 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.7%. Rayonier pays out 231.1% 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. Rayonier is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Rayonier	7.83%	3.49%	2.37%
Smartstop Self Storage REIT	9.68%	2.33%	1.23%

Volatility and Risk

Rayonier has a beta of 0.87, meaning that its stock price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Smartstop Self Storage REIT has a beta of 0.5, meaning that its stock price is 50% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Rayonier and Smartstop Self Storage REIT”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Rayonier	$484.50 million	13.52	$474.38 million	$0.45	48.41
Smartstop Self Storage REIT	$281.14 million	6.77	-$1.55 million	$0.15	229.31

Rayonier has higher revenue and earnings than Smartstop Self Storage REIT. Rayonier 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.

Summary

Rayonier beats Smartstop Self Storage REIT on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Rayonier

Rayonier is a leading timberland real estate investment trust with assets located in some of the most productive softwood timber growing regions in the United States and New Zealand. As of December 31, 2023, Rayonier owned or leased under long-term agreements approximately 2.7 million acres of timberlands located in the U.S. South (1.85 million acres), U.S. Pacific Northwest (418,000 acres) and New Zealand (421,000 acres).

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.