02:15 PM EDT, 04/24/2024 (MT Newswires) -- CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows:

We lower our price target by $55 to $278 on forward P/FFO of 16.5x our 2024 FFO estimate, a slight premium to self-storage REIT peers (15.5x) due to PSA's best-in-class balance sheet. We lower our 2024 FFO estimate by $0.24 to $16.83 and cut 2025 by $0.21 to $17.61. We believe higher-for-longer rates are likely to elongate a recovery within the sector, as slower moving volumes and broader macro pressures are likely to weigh on consumer demand for storage facilities. Meanwhile, we think existing customer rent increases may face some additional pressure in 2024 if street rates continue to drop, with customers potentially becoming more cost conscious. As a result, we now expect FFO growth to come in at -0.5% to 0.0% in 2024 versus our previous estimate of 1.0% to 1.5%. However, PSA maintains a strong balance sheet with leverage of just 3.9x and variable rate debt of only 12%. Cash on hand of ~$400M as of year-end 2023 should allow PSA to be opportunistic on acquisitions if transaction activity starts to pick up.