Contrasting Extra Space Storage (NYSE:EXR) & Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Extra Space Storage (NYSE:EXR) and Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) are both large-cap real estate companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership and valuation.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

99.1% of Extra Space Storage shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.9% of Equinix shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Extra Space Storage shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Equinix shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Extra Space Storage and Equinix”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Extra Space Storage	$3.38 billion	9.91	$974.00 million	$4.92	32.58
Equinix	$9.22 billion	10.68	$1.35 billion	$16.65	59.90

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

Risk & Volatility

Extra Space Storage has a beta of 1.07, suggesting that its share price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Equinix has a beta of 0.98, suggesting that its share price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Extra Space Storage and Equinix’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Extra Space Storage	29.90%	7.36%	3.55%
Equinix	16.38%	11.49%	3.96%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Extra Space Storage and Equinix, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Extra Space Storage	0	8	8	0	2.50
Equinix	0	4	27	2	2.94

Extra Space Storage currently has a consensus price target of $156.75, indicating a potential downside of 2.21%. Equinix has a consensus price target of $1,226.97, indicating a potential upside of 23.02%. Given Equinix’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Equinix is more favorable than Extra Space Storage.

Dividends

Extra Space Storage pays an annual dividend of $6.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Equinix pays an annual dividend of $20.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Extra Space Storage pays out 131.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Equinix pays out 124.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Extra Space Storage has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years and Equinix has raised its dividend for 10 consecutive years.

Summary

Equinix beats Extra Space Storage on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Extra Space Storage

Extra Space Storage Inc., headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, is a self-administered and self-managed REIT and a member of the S&P 500. As of December 31, 2023, the Company owned and/or operated 3,714 self-storage stores in 42 states and Washington, D.C. The Company's stores comprise approximately 2.6 million units and approximately 283.0 million square feet of rentable space operating under the Extra Space, Life Storage and Storage Express brands. The Company offers customers a wide selection of conveniently located and secure storage units across the country, including boat storage, RV storage and business storage. It is the largest operator of self-storage properties in the United States.

About Equinix

Equinix (Nasdaq: EQIX) is the world's digital infrastructure company . Digital leaders harness Equinix's trusted platform to bring together and interconnect foundational infrastructure at software speed. Equinix enables organizations to access all the right places, partners and possibilities to scale with agility, speed the launch of digital services, deliver world-class experiences and multiply their value, while supporting their sustainability goals.