EQUINIX INC vs Public Storage, two REIT stocks. A side-by-side on valuation, growth, margins, returns, and what each price is betting.
Two storage businesses with wildly different economics: Public Storage rents cheap physical space at 39% net margins, Equinix rents power-dense server space that eats capital faster than it returns it. Public Storage yields 3.70% and generates a healthy 5.57% free cash; Equinix yields 1.72% and burns free cash on expansion, running slightly negative. Public Storage earns 20.4% on equity, Equinix a lower, capex-suppressed return. Both show REIT-inflated P/Es, 33.5 and 75.5, that flatter to deceive once depreciation is stripped. Public Storage runs 1.04 turns of debt against Equinix's 1.38. The comparison prices the simplest real estate against the most demanding: self-storage compounds cash from empty rooms, data centers consume it building capacity for the cloud, and while Equinix has the richer growth story, Public Storage has by far the better cash economics today.
Comparison updated 2026-07-11.
| Metric | EQIX | PSA |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $1091.09 | $324.33 |
| Market cap | $107.7B | $57.1B |
| Sector | REIT | REIT |
| Stage | Mature | Mature |
| P/E | 75.5 | 33.5 |
| P/B | 7.53 | 6.12 |
| P/S | 11.42 | 11.74 |
| EV/EBITDA | 30.9 | 40.8 |
| Revenue growth | +6.7% | +2.9% |
| Operating margin | 23.6% | 39.0% |
| Net margin | 15.1% | 39.2% |
| Return on equity | 9.9% | 20.4% |
| Return on assets | 3.5% | 9.6% |
| Return on invested capital | 5.1% | 2.5% |
| FCF yield | -0.9% | 5.6% |
| Dividend yield | 1.7% | 3.7% |
| Debt / equity | 1.38 | 1.04 |
| Current ratio | 1.18 | — |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 2.96 | 3.49 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 5 / 9 | 8 / 9 |
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The stronger value is highlighted per metric where one is strictly better on that single number; it is not an overall verdict on either company. For informational and research purposes only. Not investment advice. Not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. boothcheck is not a registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results.