Comparing CubeSmart (NYSE:CUBE) and Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI)

CubeSmart (NYSE:CUBE) and Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, profitability and earnings.

Volatility and Risk

CubeSmart has a beta of 0.84, indicating that its stock price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Crown Castle has a beta of 0.86, indicating that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares CubeSmart and Crown Castle”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CubeSmart	$1.06 billion	9.19	$410.76 million	$1.77	24.41
Crown Castle	$6.59 billion	6.00	$1.50 billion	$2.82	32.27

Crown Castle has higher revenue and earnings than CubeSmart. CubeSmart is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Crown Castle, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

97.6% of CubeSmart shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.8% of Crown Castle shares are held by institutional investors. 1.7% of CubeSmart shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Crown Castle shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares CubeSmart and Crown Castle’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CubeSmart	37.79%	14.33%	6.48%
Crown Castle	18.59%	20.98%	3.20%

Dividends

CubeSmart pays an annual dividend of $2.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.8%. Crown Castle pays an annual dividend of $6.26 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.9%. CubeSmart pays out 117.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Crown Castle pays out 222.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. CubeSmart has increased its dividend for 15 consecutive years.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for CubeSmart and Crown Castle, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CubeSmart	1	6	4	0	2.27
Crown Castle	1	10	3	0	2.14

CubeSmart currently has a consensus price target of $51.36, indicating a potential upside of 18.87%. Crown Castle has a consensus price target of $117.00, indicating a potential upside of 28.57%. Given Crown Castle’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Crown Castle is more favorable than CubeSmart.

Summary

CubeSmart beats Crown Castle on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CubeSmart

CubeSmart is a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust. The Company's self-storage properties are designed to offer affordable, easily accessible and, in most locations, climate-controlled storage space for residential and commercial customers. According to the 2023 Self-Storage Almanac, CubeSmart is one of the top three owners and operators of self-storage properties in the United States.

About Crown Castle

Crown Castle owns, operates and leases more than 40,000 cell towers and approximately 90,000 route miles of fiber supporting small cells and fiber solutions across every major U.S. market. This nationwide portfolio of communications infrastructure connects cities and communities to essential data, technology and wireless service – bringing information, ideas and innovations to the people and businesses that need them.