Reviewing Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT) and National Storage Affiliates Trust (NYSE:NSA)

National Storage Affiliates Trust (NYSE:NSA) and Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT) are both finance 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.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

100.0% of National Storage Affiliates Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.5% of Uniti Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 13.7% of National Storage Affiliates Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.7% of Uniti Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares National Storage Affiliates Trust and Uniti Group”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
National Storage Affiliates Trust	$770.34 million	3.31	$111.52 million	$0.61	54.39
Uniti Group	$1.17 billion	1.03	$93.41 million	$5.11	1.59

National Storage Affiliates Trust has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Uniti Group. Uniti Group 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.

Analyst Ratings

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

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
National Storage Affiliates Trust	3	10	0	0	1.77
Uniti Group	0	5	1	1	2.43

National Storage Affiliates Trust currently has a consensus target price of $32.30, indicating a potential downside of 2.65%. Uniti Group has a consensus target price of $7.06, indicating a potential downside of 13.16%. Given National Storage Affiliates Trust’s higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe National Storage Affiliates Trust is more favorable than Uniti Group.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
National Storage Affiliates Trust	8.94%	5.09%	1.29%
Uniti Group	97.46%	-2.52%	0.59%

Volatility & Risk

National Storage Affiliates Trust has a beta of 1.19, meaning that its stock price is 19% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Uniti Group has a beta of 1.47, meaning that its stock price is 47% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

National Storage Affiliates Trust beats Uniti Group on 8 of the 15 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 Uniti Group

Uniti Group, Inc. is a real estate investment trust company, which engages in the acquisition, construction, and leasing of properties. It operates through the following business segments: Uniti Leasing, Uniti Fiber, and Corporate. The Uniti Leasing segment involves mission-critical communications assets on exclusive or shared-tenant basis, and dark fiber network. The Uniti Fiber segment includes the operation of infrastructure solutions, cell site backhauls, and dark fiber. The Corporate segment consists of office and shared service functions. The company was founded in February 2014 and is headquartered in Little Rock, AR.