Global Self Storage (NASDAQ:SELF) & American Tower (NYSE:AMT) Head to Head Contrast

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) and Global Self Storage (NASDAQ:SELF) are both real estate companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Risk & Volatility

American Tower has a beta of 0.88, indicating that its stock price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Global Self Storage has a beta of -0.02, indicating that its stock price is 102% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares American Tower and Global Self Storage”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
American Tower	$10.64 billion	7.77	$2.53 billion	$7.27	24.41
Global Self Storage	$12.70 million	4.44	$2.04 million	$0.18	27.44

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

Dividends

American Tower pays an annual dividend of $7.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Global Self Storage pays an annual dividend of $0.29 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.9%. American Tower pays out 98.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Global Self Storage pays out 161.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. American Tower has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares American Tower and Global Self Storage’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
American Tower	31.08%	32.76%	5.36%
Global Self Storage	16.64%	4.57%	3.32%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

92.7% of American Tower shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 28.9% of Global Self Storage shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of American Tower shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 10.7% of Global Self Storage shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for American Tower and Global Self Storage, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
American Tower	0	2	17	1	2.95
Global Self Storage	0	1	0	0	2.00

American Tower currently has a consensus target price of $214.90, suggesting a potential upside of 21.10%. Given American Tower’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe American Tower is more favorable than Global Self Storage.

Summary

American Tower beats Global Self Storage on 16 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About American Tower

American Tower, one of the largest global REITs, is a leading independent owner, operator and developer of multitenant communications real estate with a portfolio of over 224,000 communications sites and a highly interconnected footprint of U.S. data center facilities.

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.