Critical Review: Global Net Lease (NYSE:GNL) and Safestore (OTCMKTS:SFSHF)

Safestore (OTCMKTS:SFSHF – Get Rating) and Global Net Lease (NYSE:GNL – Get Rating) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk and profitability.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

70.4% of Global Net Lease shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Global Net Lease shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Safestore and Global Net Lease’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Safestore	N/A	N/A	N/A
Global Net Lease	3.17%	0.79%	0.30%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Safestore and Global Net Lease’s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Safestore	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Global Net Lease	$378.86 million	3.48	$12.02 million	($0.09)	-140.98

Global Net Lease has higher revenue and earnings than Safestore.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Safestore and Global Net Lease, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Safestore	0	0	2	0	3.00
Global Net Lease	1	1	0	0	1.50

Global Net Lease has a consensus price target of $15.00, indicating a potential upside of 18.20%. Given Global Net Lease’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Global Net Lease is more favorable than Safestore.

Volatility and Risk

Safestore has a beta of 0.89, indicating that its share price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Global Net Lease has a beta of 1.28, indicating that its share price is 28% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Global Net Lease beats Safestore on 8 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Safestore

(Get Rating)

Safestore Holdings plc is a self-storage company. It provides self-storage solutions and the sale of ancillary products, such as insurance and merchandise. It operates based on geographical areas namely the United Kingdom, France, and Spain. The company was founded by Frederic Vecchioli in 1998 and is headquartered in Borehamwood, the United Kingdom.

About Global Net Lease

(Get Rating)

Global Net Lease, Inc. engages in real estate investment service. It focuses on acquiring a diversified global portfolio of commercial properties, with an emphasis on sale-leaseback transactions involving single tenant, mission critical income producing net-leased assets across the United States, Western, and Northern Europe. The company was founded on July 13, 2011 and is headquartered in New York, NY.