Contrasting Safestore (OTCMKTS:SFSHF) and Exp World (NASDAQ:AGNT)

Exp World (NASDAQ:AGNT) and Safestore (OTCMKTS:SFSHF) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation, earnings, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

27.2% of Exp World shares are held by institutional investors. 26.6% of Exp World shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Exp World and Safestore”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Exp World	$4.82 billion	0.15	-$22.71 million	($0.10)	-45.20
Safestore	$306.59 million	5.74	$145.42 million	N/A	N/A

Safestore has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Exp World.

Risk and Volatility

Exp World has a beta of 2.06, meaning that its share price is 106% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Safestore has a beta of 0.91, meaning that its share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Exp World and Safestore’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Exp World	-0.35%	-7.05%	-3.63%
Safestore	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Exp World and Safestore, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Exp World	2	2	0	1	2.00
Safestore	2	1	1	0	1.75

Exp World presently has a consensus price target of $6.42, suggesting a potential upside of 41.96%. Given Exp World’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Exp World is more favorable than Safestore.

Summary

Exp World beats Safestore on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Exp World

eXp World Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides cloud-based real estate brokerage services for residential homeowners and homebuyers. The company operates through North American Realty, International Realty, Virbela, and Other Affiliated Services segments. It provides Virbela, a cloud-based technologies that provides data, lead generation, and marketing tools for real estate agents and employees. In addition, the company offers SUCCESS print magazine, SUCCESS.com portal, SUCCESS newsletters, SUCCESS podcasts, SUCCESS plus, SUCCESS speakers bureau, and SUCCESS coaching, podcasts, and digital training courses. It operates in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, India, Mexico, Portugal, France, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Italy, Hong Kong, Colombia, Spain, Israel, Panama, Germany, the Dominican Republic, Greece, New Zealand, Chile, and Poland. The company was formerly known as eXp Realty International Corporation and changed its name to eXp World Holdings, Inc. in May 2016. eXp World Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 2008 and is based in Bellingham, Washington.

About Safestore

Safestore is the UK’s largest self storage group with 190 stores on 31 October 2023, comprising 133 wholly owned stores in the UK (including 73 in London and the South East with the remainder in key metropolitan areas such as Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Sheffield, Leeds, Newcastle, and Bristol), 29 wholly owned stores in the Paris region, 11 stores in Spain, 11 stores in the Netherlands and 6 stores in Belgium. In addition, the Group operates 7 stores in Germany under a Joint Venture agreement with Carlyle. Safestore operates more self storage sites inside the M25 and in central Paris than any competitor providing more proximity to customers in the wealthiest and more densely populated UK and French markets. Safestore was founded in the UK in 1998. It acquired the French business “Une Pièce en Plus” (“UPP”) in 2004 which was founded in 1998 by the current Safestore Group CEO Frederic Vecchioli. Safestore has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since 2007. It entered the FTSE 250 index in October 2015. The Group provides storage to around 90,000 personal and business customers. As of 31 October 2023, Safestore had a maximum lettable area (“MLA”) of 8.090 million sq ft (excluding the expansion pipeline stores) of which 6.231 million sq ft was occupied. Safestore employs around 750 people in the UK, Paris, Spain, the Netherlands, and Belgium.