Contrasting Global Self Storage (NASDAQ:SELF) and Postal Realty Trust (NYSE:PSTL)

Global Self Storage (NASDAQ:SELF) and Postal Realty Trust (NYSE:PSTL) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, dividends and institutional ownership.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

28.9% of Global Self Storage shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 57.9% of Postal Realty Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 10.7% of Global Self Storage shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 12.5% of Postal Realty Trust shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Global Self Storage and Postal Realty Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Global Self Storage	0	1	0	0	2.00
Postal Realty Trust	0	2	6	0	2.75

Postal Realty Trust has a consensus target price of $23.38, suggesting a potential downside of 3.11%. Given Postal Realty Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Postal Realty Trust is more favorable than Global Self Storage.

Dividends

Global Self Storage pays an annual dividend of $0.29 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.7%. Postal Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.98 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Global Self Storage pays out 170.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Postal Realty Trust pays out 192.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Postal Realty Trust has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years. Global Self Storage is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Global Self Storage and Postal Realty Trust”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Global Self Storage	$12.70 million	4.58	$2.04 million	$0.17	29.94
Postal Realty Trust	$95.82 million	6.95	$14.15 million	$0.51	47.31

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

Profitability

This table compares Global Self Storage and Postal Realty Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Global Self Storage	15.37%	4.19%	3.04%
Postal Realty Trust	15.84%	4.53%	2.14%

Summary

Postal Realty Trust beats Global Self Storage on 13 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Global Self Storage

Global Self Storage is a self-administered and self-managed REIT that owns, operates, manages, acquires, and redevelops self-storage properties. The company's self-storage properties are designed to offer affordable, easily accessible and secure storage space for residential and commercial customers. Through its wholly owned subsidiaries, the company owns and/or manages 13 self-storage properties in Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Oklahoma.

About Postal Realty Trust

Postal Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: PSTL) is an internally managed real estate investment trust that owns properties primarily leased to the United States Postal Service ("USPS"). PSTL is focused on acquiring the network of USPS properties, which provide a critical element of the nation's logistics infrastructure that facilitates cost effective and efficient last-mile delivery solutions. As of December 31, 2023, PSTL owned 1,509 properties (including two properties accounted for as financing leases) located in 49 states and one territory comprising approximately 5.9 million net leasable interior square feet. Subsequent to quarter-end and through February 23, 2024, PSTL closed on eight additional properties comprising approximately 33,000 net leasable interior square feet.