Reviewing National Storage Affiliates Trust (NYSE:NSA) & Fermi (NASDAQ:FRMI)

National Storage Affiliates Trust (NYSE:NSA) and Fermi (NASDAQ:FRMI) are both mid-cap real estate companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, dividends and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for National Storage Affiliates Trust and Fermi, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
National Storage Affiliates Trust	2	12	0	0	1.86
Fermi	1	3	7	2	2.77

National Storage Affiliates Trust presently has a consensus target price of $38.60, suggesting a potential downside of 11.08%. Fermi has a consensus target price of $20.67, suggesting a potential upside of 227.78%. Given Fermi’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Fermi is more favorable than National Storage Affiliates Trust.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

100.0% of National Storage Affiliates Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 13.7% of National Storage Affiliates Trust shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares National Storage Affiliates Trust and Fermi”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
National Storage Affiliates Trust	$752.93 million	4.45	$73.78 million	$0.75	57.88
Fermi	N/A	N/A	-$486.38 million	($1.14)	-5.53

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

Profitability

This table compares National Storage Affiliates Trust and Fermi’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
National Storage Affiliates Trust	10.48%	6.46%	1.54%
Fermi	N/A	-109.36%	-71.38%

Summary

National Storage Affiliates Trust beats Fermi on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Fermi

Fermi’s mission is to power the artificial intelligence (“AI”) needs of tomorrow. We are an advanced energy and hyperscaler development company purpose-built for the AI era. Our mission is to deliver up to 11 gigawatts (“GW”) of low-carbon, HyperRedundant™, and on-demand power directly to the world’s most compute-intensive businesses with 1.1 GW of power projected to be online by the end of 2026. We have entered into a long-term lease on a site large enough to simultaneously house the next three largest data center campuses by square footage currently in existence. In a world in which power is considered a key currency for AI innovation, we believe that Fermi has a unique combination of important advantages that will help propel America’s AI economy forward. Fermi offers investors an opportunity to invest in AI growth and grid-independent energy infrastructure through a tax-efficient public REIT structure. At the heart of our vision is the Advanced Energy and Intelligence Campus at Texas Tech University (“Project Matador”), which is a multi-gigawatt energy and data center development campus designed to support the accelerating needs of to-be-built AI infrastructure. Situated on a 5,236-acre site in Amarillo, Texas, Project Matador is secured by Fermi pursuant to a 99-year Ground Lease Agreement on land owned by the Texas Tech University System (as amended, the “Lease”), which we believe will provide long-term site control and potential efficiencies through a partnership with a public university. We believe our HyperRedundant™ site is strategically located adjacent to one of the largest known natural gas fields in the United States that is (i) within a high-radiance solar corridor, (ii) well-positioned for advanced nuclear development and (iii) supportive of multiple energy pathways including near-term natural gas power development. While Fermi’s mission is to expand beyond natural gas-fired generation, we believe our ready access to large volumes of natural gas from adjacent pipeline infrastructure could enable us to scale up to 11 GW of natural gas-fired base load power generation over time. Beyond natural gas-fired generation, our Combined License Application (“COL Application”) for 4 GW of nuclear power has undergone a preliminary review and has been accepted for processing by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the “NRC”), which reinforces Project Matador’s readiness for low-carbon baseload generation beyond natural gas-fired generation. With existing water, fiber, and natural gas infrastructure readily accessible, we believe Fermi is uniquely-positioned to deploy an integrated mix of natural gas, nuclear and solar energy power to enable grid-independent, high-density computing power on the Project Matador Site. Through a combination of natural gas turbine purchases, a focus on procuring other long lead-time equipment, and negotiations with Southwestern Public Service Company (“SPS”), the local utility, we expect to secure approximately 1.1 GW of power for our operations by the end of 2026 (including an expected 200 megawatts (“MW”) from our expected contractual arrangement with SPS). We believe this rapid power delivery timeline is a critical differentiator that will allow Fermi to attract tenants that require near-term access to large-scale, reliable energy to power their AI data center compute needs. Project Matador is in close proximity to the U.S. Department of Energy’s (the “DOE”) Pantex Plant (the “Pantex Plant”), the nation’s primary nuclear weapons center, which employs approximately 4,600 skilled nuclear professionals. Our proximity to the Pantex Plant offers us the opportunity to access a highly experienced workforce steeped in nuclear safety culture and expertise. We believe this proximity to critical United States nuclear and security infrastructure will be highly attractive to our prospective tenants. With key regulatory approvals in progress, growing stakeholder relationships and energy infrastructure readiness, we believe that Project Matador represents unmatched, sector-defining potential to deliver up to 11 GW of power to on-site compute centers by 2038 through a redundant and flexible mix of natural gas, nuclear and solar energy power. Project Matador is expected to be anchored by what we believe would become the nation’s second-largest nuclear generation complex with capacity to house up to four AP1000 Pressurized Water Reactors developed by Westinghouse. Through our REIT structure, Fermi offers investors exposure to AI infrastructure growth and long-term, large-scale and reliable energy development in a tax-efficient public vehicle. Our principal executive offices are located in Amarillo, TX.