Apple Hospitality REIT (NYSE:APLE) vs. Public Storage (NYSE:PSA) Critical Comparison

Public Storage (NYSE:PSA) and Apple Hospitality REIT (NYSE:APLE) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Public Storage	39.16%	37.78%	9.43%
Apple Hospitality REIT	12.42%	5.50%	3.56%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Public Storage and Apple Hospitality REIT, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Public Storage	0	12	6	2	2.50
Apple Hospitality REIT	0	5	3	0	2.38

Public Storage presently has a consensus price target of $309.00, suggesting a potential upside of 2.36%. Apple Hospitality REIT has a consensus price target of $12.64, suggesting a potential downside of 5.54%. Given Public Storage’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Public Storage is more favorable than Apple Hospitality REIT.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

78.8% of Public Storage shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.7% of Apple Hospitality REIT shares are owned by institutional investors. 11.1% of Public Storage shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.9% of Apple Hospitality REIT shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Public Storage and Apple Hospitality REIT”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Public Storage	$4.86 billion	10.91	$1.78 billion	$9.69	31.15
Apple Hospitality REIT	$1.41 billion	2.24	$175.36 million	$0.74	18.09

Public Storage has higher revenue and earnings than Apple Hospitality REIT. Apple Hospitality REIT is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Public Storage, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk and Volatility

Public Storage has a beta of 1, suggesting that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, Apple Hospitality REIT has a beta of 0.88, suggesting that its share price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Public Storage pays an annual dividend of $12.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Apple Hospitality REIT pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.2%. Public Storage pays out 123.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Apple Hospitality REIT pays out 129.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Summary

Public Storage beats Apple Hospitality REIT on 15 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Apple Hospitality REIT

Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. (NYSE: APLE) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns one of the largest and most diverse portfolios of upscale, rooms-focused hotels in the United States. Apple Hospitality's portfolio consists of 223 hotels with more than 29,400 guest rooms located in 87 markets throughout 37 states as well as one property leased to third parties. Concentrated with industry-leading brands, the Company's hotel portfolio consists of 99 Marriott-branded hotels, 119 Hilton-branded hotels and five Hyatt-branded hotels.