How Moody’s Baa3 Credit Rating and Leverage Profile May Shape National Storage Affiliates (NSA) Investors

• Earlier this year, Moody's assigned National Storage Affiliates Trust a Baa3 credit rating, citing its 1,069-property, 37-state footprint, strong unencumbered asset base, and elevated leverage.
• The rating highlights how NSA’s high proportion of unencumbered assets and market-adjusted asset coverage of 271% are balanced against debt and preferred stock totaling 61% of assets.
• Next, we’ll explore how Moody’s Baa3 rating, and the leverage it highlights, may reshape National Storage Affiliates Trust’s investment narrative.

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National Storage Affiliates Trust Investment Narrative Recap

To own National Storage Affiliates Trust, you need to believe in the long term demand for self storage and the trust’s ability to convert that demand into stable cash flows despite near term earnings pressure. Moody’s Baa3 rating reinforces that balance sheet strength is supported by a large, mostly unencumbered portfolio, but it also underlines that elevated leverage and interest costs remain a key short term risk. The rating itself does not materially change the near term business catalysts.

The most relevant recent development alongside Moody’s rating is NSA’s reaffirmation of its 2025 guidance, which still points to a modest revenue decline and low EPS. That guidance sits against the backdrop of higher financing costs and slower top line growth, making the interaction between leverage, debt servicing and dividend sustainability an important area for investors to watch. But while income investors may focus on the dividend, others will be tracking how quickly margins can recover as conditions evolve.

Yet beneath the credit rating and dividend checks, the real risk investors should be aware of is how sustained high leverage could...

Read the full narrative on National Storage Affiliates Trust (it's free!)

National Storage Affiliates Trust's narrative projects $801.6 million revenue and $56.7 million earnings by 2028. This requires 2.6% yearly revenue growth and about a $9.3 million earnings increase from $47.4 million today.

Uncover how National Storage Affiliates Trust's forecasts yield a $33.57 fair value, a 21% upside to its current price.

Exploring Other Perspectives

Simply Wall St Community members currently place NSA’s fair value between US$15.61 and US$39.96 across 5 different estimates, highlighting wide dispersion in expectations. When you set those views against Moody’s focus on NSA’s 61% debt and preferred stock load, it becomes clear that differing opinions on leverage and earnings resilience can meaningfully shape how you judge the stock’s prospects.

Explore 5 other fair value estimates on National Storage Affiliates Trust - why the stock might be worth 44% less than the current price!

Build Your Own National Storage Affiliates Trust Narrative

Disagree with existing narratives? Create your own in under 3 minutes - extraordinary investment returns rarely come from following the herd.

• A great starting point for your National Storage Affiliates Trust research is our analysis highlighting 3 key rewards and 2 important warning signs that could impact your investment decision.
• Our free National Storage Affiliates Trust research report provides a comprehensive fundamental analysis summarized in a single visual - the Snowflake - making it easy to evaluate National Storage Affiliates Trust's overall financial health at a glance.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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