Critical Comparison: SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC) versus Smartstop Self Storage REIT (NYSE:SMA)

Smartstop Self Storage REIT (NYSE:SMA) and SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC) are both real estate companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, risk and analyst recommendations.

Risk & Volatility

Smartstop Self Storage REIT has a beta of 0.49, indicating that its stock price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SBA Communications has a beta of 0.99, indicating that its stock price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Smartstop Self Storage REIT and SBA Communications”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Smartstop Self Storage REIT	$281.14 million	6.41	-$1.55 million	$0.51	63.83
SBA Communications	$2.82 billion	6.73	$1.05 billion	$9.28	19.24

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

Dividends

Smartstop Self Storage REIT pays an annual dividend of $1.63 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.0%. SBA Communications pays an annual dividend of $5.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Smartstop Self Storage REIT pays out 319.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. SBA Communications pays out 53.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. SBA Communications has raised its dividend for 6 consecutive years.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

97.3% of SBA Communications shares are held by institutional investors. 5.7% of Smartstop Self Storage REIT shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.5% of SBA Communications shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for Smartstop Self Storage REIT and SBA Communications, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Smartstop Self Storage REIT	1	4	4	2	2.64
SBA Communications	0	9	7	0	2.44

Smartstop Self Storage REIT presently has a consensus price target of $36.86, indicating a potential upside of 13.23%. SBA Communications has a consensus price target of $225.53, indicating a potential upside of 26.29%. Given SBA Communications’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe SBA Communications is more favorable than Smartstop Self Storage REIT.

Profitability

This table compares Smartstop Self Storage REIT and SBA Communications’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Smartstop Self Storage REIT	9.68%	2.33%	1.23%
SBA Communications	34.51%	-20.67%	8.56%

Summary

SBA Communications beats Smartstop Self Storage REIT on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Smartstop Self Storage REIT

Symmetry Medical Inc. (Symmetry) is a medical device solutions company, including surgical instruments, orthopedic implants, and sterilization cases and trays. The Company designs, develops and offers worldwide production and supply chain capabilities for these products to customers in the orthopedic industry, and other medical device markets (including but not limited to arthroscopy, dental, laparoscopy, osteobiologic, and endoscopy segments). It also manufactures specialized non-healthcare products, primarily in the aerospace industry. The Company operates in two segments: original equipment manufacturer (OEM) solutions and symmetry surgical. On August 15, 2011, the Company acquired PSC Industries, Inc’s Olsen Medical division. On December 29, 2011 it acquired the surgical instruments product portfolio from Codman & Shurtleff, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson Company.

About SBA Communications

SBA Communications Corporation is a leading independent owner and operator of wireless communications infrastructure including towers, buildings, rooftops, distributed antenna systems (DAS) and small cells. With a portfolio of more than 39,000 communications sites throughout the Americas, Africa and in Asia, SBA is listed on NASDAQ under the symbol SBAC. Our organization is part of the S&P 500 and is one of the top Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) by market capitalization.