Reviewing OUTFRONT Media (NYSE:OUT) and Public Storage (NYSE:PSA)

Public Storage (NYSE:PSA) and OUTFRONT Media (NYSE:OUT) are both real estate companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation and dividends.

Volatility & Risk

Public Storage has a beta of 0.95, indicating that its stock price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, OUTFRONT Media has a beta of 1.48, indicating that its stock price is 48% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Public Storage pays an annual dividend of $12.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. OUTFRONT Media pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.7%. Public Storage pays out 114.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. OUTFRONT Media pays out 95.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. OUTFRONT Media is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Public Storage and OUTFRONT Media”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Public Storage	$4.82 billion	10.55	$1.78 billion	$10.48	27.65
OUTFRONT Media	$1.83 billion	2.71	$147.00 million	$1.39	20.26

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Public Storage and OUTFRONT Media, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Public Storage	0	14	7	0	2.33
OUTFRONT Media	0	1	6	0	2.86

Public Storage presently has a consensus price target of $326.21, suggesting a potential upside of 12.56%. OUTFRONT Media has a consensus price target of $34.00, suggesting a potential upside of 20.76%. Given OUTFRONT Media’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe OUTFRONT Media is more favorable than Public Storage.

Profitability

This table compares Public Storage and OUTFRONT Media’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Public Storage	41.80%	40.98%	10.19%
OUTFRONT Media	12.66%	37.44%	4.65%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

78.8% of Public Storage shares are held by institutional investors. 11.1% of Public Storage shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of OUTFRONT Media shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Public Storage beats OUTFRONT Media on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Public Storage

Public Storage, a member of the S&P 500 and FT Global 500, is a REIT that primarily acquires, develops, owns, and operates self-storage facilities. At December 31, 2023, we had: (i) interests in 3,044 self-storage facilities located in 40 states with approximately 218 million net rentable square feet in the United States and (ii) a 35% common equity interest in Shurgard Self Storage Limited (Euronext Brussels: SHUR), which owned 275 self-storage facilities located in seven Western European nations with approximately 15 million net rentable square feet operated under the Shurgard brand. Our headquarters are located in Glendale, California.

About OUTFRONT Media

OUTFRONT Media, Inc. leases advertising space on out-of-home advertising structures and sites. Its inventory consists of billboard displays, which are primarily located on the most heavily traveled highways & roadways, and transit advertising displays operated under exclusive multi-year contracts with municipalities in large cities across the U.S. and Canada. It operates through the U.S. Media and other segments. The U.S. Media segment includes U.S. Billboard and Transit. The company was founded in 1938 and is headquartered in New York, NY.