Contrasting National Storage Affiliates Trust (NYSE:NSA) and Rayonier (NYSE:RYN)

National Storage Affiliates Trust (NYSE:NSA) and Rayonier (NYSE:RYN) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for National Storage Affiliates Trust and Rayonier, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
National Storage Affiliates Trust	3	5	1	0	1.78
Rayonier	0	2	0	0	2.00

National Storage Affiliates Trust currently has a consensus price target of $36.44, indicating a potential downside of 11.59%. Rayonier has a consensus price target of $34.00, indicating a potential upside of 16.88%. Given Rayonier’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Rayonier is more favorable than National Storage Affiliates Trust.

Dividends

National Storage Affiliates Trust pays an annual dividend of $2.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.4%. Rayonier pays an annual dividend of $1.14 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. National Storage Affiliates Trust pays out 117.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Rayonier pays out 101.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

100.0% of National Storage Affiliates Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.1% of Rayonier shares are owned by institutional investors. 13.0% of National Storage Affiliates Trust shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Rayonier shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares National Storage Affiliates Trust and Rayonier’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	$858.06 million	3.60	$156.67 million	$1.91	21.58
Rayonier	$1.06 billion	4.10	$173.49 million	$1.12	25.97

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

Risk and Volatility

National Storage Affiliates Trust has a beta of 0.91, suggesting that its share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Rayonier has a beta of 1.07, suggesting that its share price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
National Storage Affiliates Trust	22.07%	10.30%	3.16%
Rayonier	15.92%	3.21%	1.62%

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 Rayonier

Rayonier is a leading timberland real estate investment trust with assets located in some of the most productive softwood timber growing regions in the United States and New Zealand. As of December 31, 2023, Rayonier owned or leased under long-term agreements approximately 2.7 million acres of timberlands located in the U.S. South (1.85 million acres), U.S. Pacific Northwest (418,000 acres) and New Zealand (421,000 acres).