Contrasting National Storage Affiliates Trust (NYSE:NSA) and Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR)

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) and National Storage Affiliates Trust (NYSE:NSA) are both real estate companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation and profitability.

Risk and Volatility

Digital Realty Trust has a beta of 1.03, indicating that its share price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, National Storage Affiliates Trust has a beta of 1.03, indicating that its share price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Digital Realty Trust and National Storage Affiliates Trust’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%
National Storage Affiliates Trust	10.48%	6.46%	1.54%

Dividends

Digital Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $4.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. National Storage Affiliates Trust pays an annual dividend of $2.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.3%. 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. National Storage Affiliates Trust pays out 304.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. National Storage Affiliates Trust has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. National Storage Affiliates Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Digital Realty Trust and National Storage Affiliates Trust”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Digital Realty Trust	$6.11 billion	11.83	$1.31 billion	$2.06	94.90
National Storage Affiliates Trust	$752.93 million	4.45	$73.78 million	$0.75	57.88

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

99.7% of Digital Realty Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 100.0% of National Storage Affiliates Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Digital Realty Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 13.7% of National Storage Affiliates Trust shares are owned 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 Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Digital Realty Trust and National Storage Affiliates Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Digital Realty Trust	0	6	25	1	2.84
National Storage Affiliates Trust	2	11	0	0	1.85

Digital Realty Trust currently has a consensus target price of $219.45, indicating a potential upside of 12.26%. National Storage Affiliates Trust has a consensus target price of $39.06, indicating a potential downside of 10.02%. Given Digital Realty Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Digital Realty Trust is more favorable than National Storage Affiliates Trust.

Summary

Digital Realty Trust beats National Storage Affiliates Trust on 12 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 National Storage Affiliates Trust

National Storage Affiliates Trust is a real estate investment trust headquartered in Greenwood Village, Colorado, focused on the ownership, operation and acquisition of self storage properties predominantly located within the top 100 metropolitan statistical areas throughout the United States. As of December 31, 2023, the Company held ownership interests in and operated 1,050 self storage properties, located in 42 states and Puerto Rico with approximately 68.6 million rentable square feet, which excludes 39 self storage properties classified as held for sale to be sold to a third party. NSA is one of the largest owners and operators of self storage properties among public and private companies in the United States.