Reviewing American Tower (NYSE:AMT) and Global Self Storage (NASDAQ:SELF)

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

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Global Self Storage and American Tower”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Global Self Storage	$12.70 million	4.49	$2.04 million	$0.18	27.72
American Tower	$10.64 billion	8.01	$2.53 billion	$7.27	25.17

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.

Volatility and Risk

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

Dividends

Global Self Storage pays an annual dividend of $0.29 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.8%. American Tower pays an annual dividend of $7.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. 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 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. American Tower has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

28.9% of Global Self Storage shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.7% of American Tower shares are owned by institutional investors. 10.7% of Global Self Storage shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of American Tower shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

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

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

Analyst Recommendations

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

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

American Tower has a consensus price target of $215.00, indicating a potential upside of 17.49%. Given American Tower’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly 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 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.

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.