Financial Comparison: Extra Space Storage (NYSE:EXR) & Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR)

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) and Extra Space Storage (NYSE:EXR) are both large-cap real estate companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, institutional ownership and valuation.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

93.8% of Lamar Advertising shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.1% of Extra Space Storage shares are held by institutional investors. 15.2% of Lamar Advertising shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Extra Space Storage shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Lamar Advertising and Extra Space Storage’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lamar Advertising	23.90%	54.94%	8.04%
Extra Space Storage	27.80%	6.70%	3.27%

Dividends

Lamar Advertising pays an annual dividend of $6.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. Extra Space Storage pays an annual dividend of $6.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.7%. Lamar Advertising pays out 116.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Extra Space Storage pays out 143.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Lamar Advertising has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years and Extra Space Storage has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Lamar Advertising and Extra Space Storage, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lamar Advertising	0	3	2	0	2.40
Extra Space Storage	0	9	7	0	2.44

Lamar Advertising currently has a consensus price target of $160.17, suggesting a potential upside of 9.10%. Extra Space Storage has a consensus price target of $148.93, suggesting a potential upside of 8.91%. Given Lamar Advertising’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Lamar Advertising is more favorable than Extra Space Storage.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Lamar Advertising and Extra Space Storage”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lamar Advertising	$2.27 billion	6.58	$587.15 million	$5.48	26.79
Extra Space Storage	$3.38 billion	8.55	$974.00 million	$4.53	30.19

Extra Space Storage has higher revenue and earnings than Lamar Advertising. Lamar Advertising is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Extra Space Storage, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Lamar Advertising has a beta of 1.17, meaning that its share price is 17% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Extra Space Storage has a beta of 1.16, meaning that its share price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Extra Space Storage beats Lamar Advertising on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lamar Advertising

Lamar Advertising Company operates as an outdoor advertising company in the United States and Canada. The company owns and operates billboards, logo signs, and transit advertising displays, as well as rents space for advertising on billboards, buses, shelters, benches, logo plates, and in airport terminals. Lamar Advertising Company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

About Extra Space Storage

Extra Space Storage Inc., headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, is a self-administered and self-managed REIT and a member of the S&P 500. As of December 31, 2023, the Company owned and/or operated 3,714 self-storage stores in 42 states and Washington, D.C. The Company's stores comprise approximately 2.6 million units and approximately 283.0 million square feet of rentable space operating under the Extra Space, Life Storage and Storage Express brands. The Company offers customers a wide selection of conveniently located and secure storage units across the country, including boat storage, RV storage and business storage. It is the largest operator of self-storage properties in the United States.