Head to Head Survey: Global Self Storage (NASDAQ:SELF) vs. Acadia Realty Trust (NYSE:AKR)

Acadia Realty Trust (NYSE:AKR) and Global Self Storage (NASDAQ:SELF) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations and risk.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

97.7% of Acadia Realty Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 28.9% of Global Self Storage shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.8% of Acadia Realty Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.0% of Global Self Storage shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Acadia Realty Trust has a beta of 1.49, suggesting that its stock price is 49% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Global Self Storage has a beta of 0.26, suggesting that its stock price is 74% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Acadia Realty Trust and Global Self Storage, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Acadia Realty Trust	0	2	2	0	2.50
Global Self Storage	0	0	1	0	3.00

Acadia Realty Trust currently has a consensus target price of $23.00, indicating a potential upside of 7.05%. Global Self Storage has a consensus target price of $6.50, indicating a potential upside of 27.20%. Given Global Self Storage’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Global Self Storage is more favorable than Acadia Realty Trust.

Valuation & Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Acadia Realty Trust	$359.69 million	7.15	$21.65 million	$0.18	119.36
Global Self Storage	$12.32 million	4.67	$2.94 million	$0.27	18.93

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

Dividends

Acadia Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Global Self Storage pays an annual dividend of $0.29 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.7%. Acadia Realty Trust pays out 444.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Global Self Storage pays out 107.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Global Self Storage is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Acadia Realty Trust	5.74%	0.88%	0.48%
Global Self Storage	25.47%	6.55%	4.73%

Summary

Global Self Storage beats Acadia Realty Trust on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Acadia Realty Trust

Acadia Realty Trust is an equity real estate investment trust focused on delivering long-term, profitable growth via its dual Core Portfolio and Fund operating platforms and its disciplined, location-driven investment strategy. Acadia Realty Trust is accomplishing this goal by building a best-in-class core real estate portfolio with meaningful concentrations of assets in the nation's most dynamic corridors; making profitable opportunistic and value-add investments through its series of discretionary, institutional funds; and maintaining a strong balance sheet.

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.