CubeSmart up after Raymond James upgrades to "strong buy"

Life Storage

23/05/2022 14:16

** CubeSmart  CUBE.N  shares up 3.2% at $42.15 premarket
after Raymond James upgrades to "strong buy" from "outperform",
and adds self-storage REIT to its analyst current favorites list
    ** Raymond James analyst Jonathan Hughes points to easier
comps in 2H22 driving potential for better relative performance
vs peers, attractive valuation, and smaller size that makes any
external growth more impactful as reasons for upgrade
    ** Hughes reiterates "overweight" rating on the sector,
saying declining new supply impact – that has likely declined
further given recent shift in macroeconomic and capital market
conditions – creates scenario where fundamentals can surpass
expectations for next several years
    ** But revised earnings estimates aren't as optimistic as
they would have been several weeks ago, Hughes says, as he now
incorporates some impact from potential consumer-driven
recession
    ** Hughes lowers PT on CUBE by $8 to $52
    ** Also reduces PTs on "strong buy"-rated Public Storage
 PSA.N  and "outperform"-rated Life Storage  LSI.N 
    ** YTD, CUBE down ~28%, while LSI also off 28%, PSA down
~16% and Extra Space Storage  EXR.N  has lost 24%
    ** S&P 500 Real Estate index  .SPLRCR  has declined 18% this
year

 (Lance Tupper is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed
are his own)
 ((lance.tupper@thomsonreuters.com
lance.tupper@tr.com 1-332-219-1430))