National Storage Affiliates Trust is a real estate investment trust headquartered in Greenwood Village, Colorado, focused on the ownership, operation and acquisition of self-storage properties predominantly located within the top 100 metropolitan statistical areas throughout the United States. As of September 30, 2025, the Company held ownership interests in and operated 1,069 self-storage properties, located in 37 states and Puerto …
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Competitive advantage assessment
Key strengths
Stable NOI PerformanceNOI stability is excellent (score 0.91), suggesting reliable rent streams.
Key risks
Elevated Leverage RiskLeverage is elevated (score 0.15), raising refinancing risk.
National Storage Affiliates Tru ranks #13 of 18
scored companies in REIT - Industrial by moat score — the top 72%.
The widest moat in the group is Terreno Realty Corporation (TRNO)
at 81/100.
Moat scores for companies ranked near NSA in REIT - Industrial
For a REIT, pricing power is the ability to raise rents at renewal and still keep the space occupied.
AFFO Strength
Score 25
· 18% of the moat score
AFFO — adjusted funds from operations — is the cash a REIT can actually distribute after the recurring capital spending buildings need in order to stay leasable.
Balance Sheet & Cost of Capital
Score 18
· 20% of the moat score
Real estate is bought with borrowed money, so a REIT's cost of capital is its competitive advantage.
Capital Recycling & Growth
Score 16
· 16% of the moat score
REITs grow by issuing shares and debt to buy more property, which creates value only when the yield on the asset exceeds the cost of the capital raised.
Operational Efficiency
Score 28
· 14% of the moat score
Running property — leasing, maintenance, taxes, management — is the part of the business a REIT genuinely controls.
Portfolio Quality & Diversification
Score 56
· 12% of the moat score
Portfolio quality is really a question about what happens when a tenant fails.
What is National Storage Affiliates Tru's moat score?
National Storage Affiliates Tru (NSA) scores 35 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as developing. It ranks #13 of 18 scored companies in REIT - Industrial, the top 72%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 23 companies in REIT - Industrial. Its strongest defense is Rent Pricing Power (61/100) and its weakest is Capital Recycling & Growth (16/100).
How does National Storage Affiliates Tru compare with other REIT - Industrial companies?
National Storage Affiliates Tru ranks #13 of 18 scored companies in REIT - Industrial by moat score. The widest moat in REIT - Industrial is Terreno Realty Corporation (TRNO) at 81/100. The companies ranked closest are Rexford Industrial Realty, Inc. (REXR) at 38 just above it and Plymouth Industrial REIT, Inc. (PLYM) at 33 just below it.
How is the moat score calculated?
Each company is scored with an industry-specific template — REIT Specialized in this case, chosen because the defenses that matter to a bank are not the ones that matter to a software company. Every defense combines several financial signals, and each signal is measured as a percentile against a peer group of 23 companies in REIT - Industrial. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.
Why is National Storage Affiliates Tru scored with the REIT Specialized template?
A REIT is a portfolio of buildings financed with debt and required to distribute most of its taxable income. Reported earnings are dominated by depreciation on assets that often appreciate, so net income says very little; the real question is how much cash the properties distribute, and how securely. The REIT template scores what determines that: rent pricing, distributable cash, cost of capital, and the discipline behind growth.
Which competitive defenses are measured for National Storage Affiliates Tru?
The REIT Specialized template measures 6 defenses, and NSA scores: Rent Pricing Power (61), AFFO Strength (25), Balance Sheet & Cost of Capital (18), Capital Recycling & Growth (16), Operational Efficiency (28), Portfolio Quality & Diversification (56). Each is scored independently as a percentile against peers, so a company can be strong on one and weak on another — the overall score reflects how those defenses are weighted for this industry.
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