Critical Survey: Extra Space Storage (NYSE:EXR) & OUTFRONT Media (NYSE:OUT)

OUTFRONT Media (NYSE:OUT) and Extra Space Storage (NYSE:EXR) are both real estate companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, risk, valuation, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

99.1% of Extra Space Storage shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of OUTFRONT Media 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, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for OUTFRONT Media and Extra Space Storage, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
OUTFRONT Media	0	1	6	0	2.86
Extra Space Storage	0	10	6	0	2.38

OUTFRONT Media currently has a consensus target price of $34.00, indicating a potential upside of 14.25%. Extra Space Storage has a consensus target price of $147.87, indicating a potential upside of 0.23%. Given OUTFRONT Media’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe OUTFRONT Media is more favorable than Extra Space Storage.

Dividends

OUTFRONT Media pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Extra Space Storage pays an annual dividend of $6.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. OUTFRONT Media pays out 86.3% 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. Extra Space Storage has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Extra Space Storage is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Volatility and Risk

OUTFRONT Media has a beta of 1.49, meaning that its stock price is 49% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Extra Space Storage has a beta of 1.18, meaning that its stock price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares OUTFRONT Media and Extra Space Storage”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
OUTFRONT Media	$1.83 billion	2.86	$147.00 million	$1.39	21.41
Extra Space Storage	$3.38 billion	9.23	$974.00 million	$4.53	32.57

Extra Space Storage has higher revenue and earnings than OUTFRONT Media. OUTFRONT Media 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.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
OUTFRONT Media	12.66%	37.44%	4.65%
Extra Space Storage	27.80%	6.70%	3.27%

Summary

Extra Space Storage beats OUTFRONT Media on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About OUTFRONT Media

OUTFRONT Media, Inc. leases advertising space on out-of-home advertising structures and sites. Its inventory consists of billboard displays, which are primarily located on the most heavily traveled highways & roadways, and transit advertising displays operated under exclusive multi-year contracts with municipalities in large cities across the U.S. and Canada. It operates through the U.S. Media and other segments. The U.S. Media segment includes U.S. Billboard and Transit. The company was founded in 1938 and is headquartered in New York, NY.

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.