Smartstop Self Storage REIT (NYSE:SMA) versus Public Storage (NYSE:PSA) Head to Head Analysis

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

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Smartstop Self Storage REIT and Public Storage”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Smartstop Self Storage REIT	$281.14 million	7.02	-$1.55 million	$0.51	69.86
Public Storage	$4.82 billion	11.29	$1.78 billion	$10.48	29.60

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

78.8% of Public Storage shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.7% of Smartstop Self Storage REIT shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.1% of Public Storage shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Smartstop Self Storage REIT and Public Storage, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Smartstop Self Storage REIT	1	5	3	2	2.55
Public Storage	0	14	7	0	2.33

Smartstop Self Storage REIT currently has a consensus price target of $36.42, suggesting a potential upside of 2.21%. Public Storage has a consensus price target of $323.42, suggesting a potential upside of 4.26%. Given Public Storage’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Public Storage is more favorable than Smartstop Self Storage REIT.

Dividends

Smartstop Self Storage REIT pays an annual dividend of $1.58 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. Public Storage pays an annual dividend of $12.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Smartstop Self Storage REIT pays out 309.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Public Storage pays out 114.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Smartstop Self Storage REIT	9.68%	2.33%	1.23%
Public Storage	41.80%	40.98%	10.19%

Risk and Volatility

Smartstop Self Storage REIT has a beta of 0.48, suggesting that its share price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Public Storage has a beta of 0.94, suggesting that its share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

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

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.

About Public Storage

Public Storage, a member of the S&P 500 and FT Global 500, is a REIT that primarily acquires, develops, owns, and operates self-storage facilities. At December 31, 2023, we had: (i) interests in 3,044 self-storage facilities located in 40 states with approximately 218 million net rentable square feet in the United States and (ii) a 35% common equity interest in Shurgard Self Storage Limited (Euronext Brussels: SHUR), which owned 275 self-storage facilities located in seven Western European nations with approximately 15 million net rentable square feet operated under the Shurgard brand. Our headquarters are located in Glendale, California.