National Storage Affiliates (NSA) AI Stock Analysis

• Market Cap: $5.40B
• Dividend Yield: 8.28%
• Average Volume (3M): 1.58M
• Price to Earnings (P/E): 29.3
• Beta (1Y): 0.63
• Revenue Growth: -4.98%
• EPS Growth: -65.45%
• Country: US
• Employees: 1,466
• Sector: Real Estate
• Sector Strength: 53
• Industry: REIT - Industrial
• EPS (TTM): 0.23
• Shares Outstanding: 77,112,470
• 10 Day Avg. Volume: 1,638,658
• 30 Day Avg. Volume: 1,576,355
• PEG Ratio: -0.72
• Price to Book (P/B): 2.29
• Price to Sales (P/S): 2.87
• P/FCF Ratio: 7.21
• Enterprise Value/Market Cap: 1.20
• Enterprise Value/Revenue: 8.59
• Enterprise Value/Gross Profit: 18.69
• Enterprise Value/Ebitda: 13.73
• 1Y Price Target: $36.25
• Price Target Upside: -9.89% Downside
• Rating Consensus: Hold
• Number of Analyst Covering: 10
• EPS Forecast (FY): 0.57
• Revenue Forecast (FY): $739.62M

• Rating: 65 Neutral
• Price Target: $43.00 ▲(6.89% Upside)
• Action: Reiterated Date: 03/18/26
• Date: Action: Reiterated 03/18/26

The score is driven primarily by mixed financial performance (solid cash generation but weakening recent revenue/margins and leverage uncertainty). Technicals are supportive with the stock above major moving averages, while valuation is balanced by a strong yield but a high P/E. The earnings outlook suggests a gradual recovery with meaningful refinancing and dividend-coverage headwinds, partially offset by the positive M&A catalyst from the announced Public Storage merger.

Positive Factors

Cash Generation

Consistent operating and free cash flow, with FCF tracking net income (~0.89–0.94x), indicates earnings are backed by cash. This durable cash generation supports recurring dividend payouts, funds maintenance capex and modest acquisitions, and provides flexibility through economic cycles.

Large, Diversified Portfolio

Scale across 1,000+ properties and 37 states provides geographic diversification and operating leverage. A broad footprint reduces reliance on any single MSA, helps absorb localized supply shocks, and enables centralized pricing, marketing and technology investments that improve long-term margin sustainability.

Strategic Merger & Synergy Potential

The announced merger is a structural change that materially increases scale and operational integration into a higher-margin platform. Targeted synergies and near-term FFO accretion should improve earnings quality, expand fee and JV channels, and strengthen competitive positioning over multiple years.

Negative Factors

Revenue Decline and Margin Compression

A multi-year shift from prior revenue growth to negative growth with margin compression is a durable headwind. Slower top-line and shrinking margins reduce free cash flow growth potential, constrain dividend coverage recovery, and increase reliance on acquisitions or disposals to restore FFO momentum.

Refinancing Concentration Risk

Concentrated 2026 maturities and above-target leverage expose the company to refinancing risk and higher interest costs. Even modest rate increases or tighter credit can materially raise interest expense, strain covenant headroom, and limit capital allocation flexibility over the medium term.

Dividend Coverage Pressure

Projected insufficient dividend coverage in 2026 is a structural concern for long-term shareholder returns. Persistent undercoverage could force payout cuts or equity issuance to preserve balance sheet health, altering capital allocation and investor expectations for income reliability.

National Storage Affiliates Business Overview & Revenue Model

Company Description

National Storage Affiliates Trust is a Maryland real estate investment trust focused on the ownership, operation and acquisition of self storage properties located within the top 100 metropolitan statistical areas throughout the United States. As of September 30, 2020, the Company held ownership interests in and operated 788 self storage properties located in 35 states and Puerto Rico with approximately 49.5 million rentable square feet. NSA is one of the largest owners and operators of self storage properties among public and private companies in the United States.

How the Company Makes Money

NSA primarily makes money by generating rental income from self-storage units across its property portfolio. Customers rent storage space (generally on month-to-month agreements) and pay recurring rent, which represents the company’s core revenue stream. Revenue is influenced by occupancy (how many units are rented), realized rental rates, customer move-ins and move-outs, and the company’s ability to adjust rates over time. In addition to base rent, self-storage operators commonly earn ancillary income tied to the storage rental relationship, such as administrative and late fees and other tenant-related charges; NSA’s specific ancillary fee categories and materiality are null. As a REIT, NSA’s business model also relies on acquiring additional facilities (and integrating them into its operating platform) to grow rental revenue and cash flow; the company may also earn income from managing properties, but the existence and materiality of third-party management/fee income for NSA is null. Other contributors to earnings can include property-level expense management (which affects net operating income) and capital allocation decisions (acquisitions, dispositions, and development/redevelopment), while financing strategy (use of debt and equity) affects net income through interest expense and share count rather than being a direct revenue stream. Specific significant partnerships or named counterparties materially contributing to NSA’s earnings are null.

National Storage Affiliates Financial Statement Overview

Summary

Overall fundamentals are mixed: cash generation is a relative strength (consistently positive operating and free cash flow), but recent results show revenue contraction and margin pressure. Leverage was elevated through 2024, and the sharp 2025 balance-sheet shift creates uncertainty about the sustainability of improved debt metrics.

Income Statement

Profitability is generally solid, with net margins holding in the low-to-high teens across most annual periods and strong operating profitability in 2021–2024. However, growth has turned negative: revenue shifted from strong gains in 2021–2022 to a small decline in 2024 and a steep drop in 2025 (annual). Margin compression is also evident in 2025 versus prior years, pointing to a weaker near-term earnings trajectory.

Balance Sheet

The balance sheet shows mixed signals. From 2020–2024 the company carried substantial leverage (debt-to-equity generally around ~1.7x to ~3.2x), which increases sensitivity to refinancing costs and downturns. 2025 (annual) shows extremely low reported debt versus equity, which would be a major positive if sustainable, but it is a sharp discontinuity from prior years and reduces confidence in the trend. Returns on equity are moderate (mid-single-digit to low-teens), improving into 2023–2025.

Cash Flow

Cash generation is a relative strength: operating cash flow and free cash flow are consistently positive, and free cash flow tracks closely with net income (roughly ~0.89–0.94x in recent years), suggesting earnings are backed by cash. That said, free cash flow growth deteriorated meaningfully in 2024 and was very weak in 2025 (annual), signaling pressure on cash expansion. Coverage of accounting earnings by operating cash flow is generally adequate, with an unusually high figure in 2025 (annual) that aligns with the same year’s balance sheet discontinuity.

Breakdown	Dec 2025	Dec 2024	Dec 2023	Dec 2022	Dec 2021
Income Statement
Total Revenue	752.93M	770.34M	858.06M	801.57M	585.67M
Gross Profit	346.06M	558.48M	629.08M	590.54M	430.41M
EBITDA	471.14M	531.15M	626.72M	532.21M	379.00M
Net Income	73.78M	111.52M	156.67M	103.74M	105.25M
Balance Sheet
Total Assets	5.08B	5.35B	5.93B	6.07B	5.56B
Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments	23.64M	50.41M	64.98M	35.31M	25.01M
Total Debt	3.43B	3.47B	3.68B	3.58B	2.96B
Total Liabilities	3.55B	3.59B	3.81B	3.68B	3.08B
Stockholders Equity	946.04M	1.08B	1.42B	1.65B	1.78B
Cash Flow
Free Cash Flow	299.81M	342.49M	406.03M	400.12M	303.35M
Operating Cash Flow	338.50M	363.06M	441.58M	443.85M	331.35M
Investing Cash Flow	19.86M	425.42M	161.10M	-584.16M	-2.00B
Financing Cash Flow	-385.47M	-825.42M	-557.19M	154.64M	1.67B

National Storage Affiliates Technical Analysis

• Technical Analysis Sentiment: Positive
• Last Price: 40.23
• 50DMA: Positive
• 100DMA: Positive
• 200DMA: Positive
• MACD: Negative
• RSI: Negative
• STOCH: Neutral

Evaluating momentum and price trends is crucial in stock analysis to make informed investment decisions. For NSA, the sentiment is Positive. The current price of 40.23 is above the 20-day moving average (MA) of 33.71, above the 50-day MA of 32.31, and above the 200-day MA of 30.19, indicating a bullish trend. The MACD of 0.45 indicates Negative momentum. The RSI at 73.97 is Negative, neither overbought nor oversold. The STOCH value of 33.93 is Neutral, not indicating any strong overbought or oversold conditions. Overall, these indicators collectively point to a Positive sentiment for NSA.

National Storage Affiliates Peers Comparison

Name	Overall Rating	Market Cap	P/E Ratio	ROE	Dividend Yield	Revenue Growth	EPS Growth
IIPR	78 Outperform	$1.46B	10.38	6.29%	13.07%	-11.22%	-24.64%
EXR	75 Outperform	$30.77B	24.31	7.12%	5.01%	3.38%	17.16%
CUBE	71 Outperform	$8.86B	24.70	11.96%	5.69%	4.19%	-12.19%
PSA	67 Neutral	$50.86B	25.52	19.03%	4.63%	2.30%	-0.22%
SELF	67 Neutral	$57.37M	28.32	3.81%	5.63%	3.36%	-43.55%
Sector *	65 Neutral	$2.17B	12.19	3.79%	4.94%	3.15%	1.96%
NSA	65 Neutral	$5.40B	29.30	7.46%	8.28%	-4.98%	-65.45%

National Storage Affiliates Corporate Events

National Storage Affiliates Agrees to Acquisition by Public Storage

On March 16, 2026, National Storage Affiliates Trust agreed to be acquired by fellow self-storage REIT Public Storage in a stock-for-unit merger that will fold the company and its operating partnership into Public Storage’s structure. Common shareholders of National Storage Affiliates will receive 0.1400 Public Storage common share per NSA share, while preferred shareholders and preferred partnership unitholders will roll into substantially equivalent Public Storage preferred securities, preserving their economic and voting rights.

The deal, unanimously backed by National Storage Affiliates’ board, is subject to shareholder and unitholder approvals, regulatory clearances and listing of new Public Storage securities, and includes tight non-solicitation covenants, a potential $201.97 million termination fee and voting support from key insiders. Limited partners in the operating partnership can either receive Parent OP units or participate in a new $3.2 billion asset joint venture, the Dropdown JV, which will be majority-owned by existing limited partners through an Aggregator vehicle and minority-owned and managed by a Public Storage subsidiary.

The Dropdown JV will carry roughly $2.2 billion of debt and is designed to deliver attractive, supported cash distributions for at least three years, then provide seven-year liquidity options via forced portfolio sale or unit redemptions, giving legacy National Storage Affiliates investors flexible exposure to a carved-out asset pool. Governance and compensation arrangements are being reshaped around the transaction, including accelerated vesting or cancellation of certain partnership LTIP units and one-time cash transaction bonuses for six senior executives, whose 2026 performance-based LTIPs will be forfeited if the merger closes.

An amendment to the operating partnership agreement enables eligible limited partners to swap operating partnership units into Aggregator units linked to the Dropdown JV, subject to caps and pro rata adjustments to hit a targeted JV interest size. These mechanics, together with restrictions on dividends outside specified ranges before closing, signal a carefully structured combination that balances balance-sheet discipline for Public Storage with ongoing income streams and exit optionality for National Storage Affiliates’ equity and operating partnership stakeholders.

The most recent analyst rating on (NSA) stock is a Buy with a $45.00 price target. To see the full list of analyst forecasts on National Storage Affiliates stock, see the NSA Stock Forecast page.

National Storage Affiliates to Merge with Public Storage

On March 16, 2026, Public Storage and National Storage Affiliates agreed to an all-stock merger valuing NSA at about $10.5 billion, giving NSA investors 0.14 PSA shares or units per NSA share and creating a self-storage giant with roughly $57 billion in equity market cap and $77 billion in enterprise value. The transaction, unanimously approved by both boards and expected to close in the third quarter of 2026, will see Public Storage fully own 488 NSA properties in key growth markets, while a new joint venture with NSA operating partnership unitholders will hold 313 high cash-flow assets, offering tax-efficient, leveraged yield and management fee opportunities.

Public Storage plans to refinance NSA’s bank debt and senior notes, assume certain mortgages and preferred securities, and use $4.0 billion in committed bridge and JV financing to support a leverage-neutral integration into its PS4.0 strategic framework. Management from both companies emphasize that the deal deepens PSA’s presence in high-growth Sun Belt and other strategic markets, leverages PSA’s higher-margin PS Next operating platform to extract $110 million to $130 million in run-rate synergies over three to four years, and is expected to be accretive to FFO per share within the first year, ultimately strengthening PSA’s industry leadership and growth prospects for shareholders and NSA stakeholders.

The most recent analyst rating on (NSA) stock is a Buy with a $35.00 price target. To see the full list of analyst forecasts on National Storage Affiliates stock, see the NSA Stock Forecast page.