Key Takeaways
- Public Storage yields about 4.3% and Prologis about 3.4%, and both raised their 2026 outlooks with second-quarter results in July.
- Public Storage paid out 75% of its adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) last year, against 89% for Prologis, and it carries far less debt.
- Prologis has raised its dividend per share in each of the last 12 fiscal years, while Public Storage’s has been $12 a share in each fiscal year since 2023.
- Analysts expect Prologis’s AFFO per share to rise about 15% this year, which would bring its payout ratio down to 82%.
Public Storage (PSA) and Prologis (PLD) are having a banner year – both raised their 2026 outlooks in July.
Public Storage of course rents storage units, and CEO Tom Boyle said its second-quarter results allowed the company “to raise our outlook for the back half of the year.” Prologis leases warehouses (and, increasingly, data centers) to big companies. It lifted its 2026 guidance for core funds from operations to $6.22 to $6.30 a share.
Both are real estate investment trusts (REITs), so each dividend is judged on its AFFO payout ratio. That’s dividends as a share of adjusted funds from operations, which is roughly the cash a REIT’s properties bring in after the spending it takes to keep them up. (Buying property is a REIT’s business, so its free cash flow says little about the dividend.)
So which one is the better dividend stock? Here’s how they stack up…
| Metric | Public Storage (PSA) | Prologis (PLD) |
|---|---|---|
| Dividend yield | 4.3% | 3.4% |
| Annual dividend | $12.00 | $4.28 |
| Dividend growth, 5 years | 8.4% a year | 11.7% a year |
| Fiscal years of higher dividends, in a row | 0 | 12 |
| AFFO payout ratio, fiscal 2025 | 75% | 89% |
| AFFO payout ratio, 2026 consensus | 76% | 82% |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 2.89x | 5.24x |
Source: TIKR and StockAnalysis, Oct. 5, 2026.
Public Storage: the bigger check, with room to spare
The storage facilities Public Storage has owned for a while are earning less. Same-store net operating income fell 2.2% in the second quarter, as operating costs rose 4.3% (higher property taxes and marketing, mostly) and revenue slipped 0.6%. The growth is coming from acquisitions. Revenue from newer facilities rose 25.6%, and the company expects its merger with National Storage Affiliates to add to FFO per share within the first year.
AFFO per share has climbed from $9.39 in 2016 to $15.97 last year, while the dividend has held at $12 since 2023, after a one-year spike in 2022…
That’s a comfortable 75% AFFO payout ratio for 2025, and a similar 76% on 2026 consensus. Net debt is a modest 2.89 times EBITDA, and operating earnings cover interest about 7 times.
The catch is growth. The 8.4% five-year growth rate comes from a single step up, from $8 a share in 2021 to $12 by 2023. Core FFO per share also fell 2.6% last quarter on higher financing and overhead costs.
Prologis: faster growth, tighter coverage
Public Storage’s growth comes from buying facilities. Prologis is also growing inside the buildings it already owns. It signed a record 67 million square feet of leases in the quarter and expects same-store cash NOI to rise 6.75% to 7.25% this year. Its data center power pipeline has more than doubled over two years, to about 5.8 gigawatts. As CEO Dan Letter put it: “it’s clear we’re entering the next phase of growth, where logistics, data centers and energy increasingly reinforce one another.”
The dividend has outgrown the cash, though. AFFO per share rose from $2.57 in 2016 to $5.00 in 2022, then slipped three years in a row to $4.53, while the dividend kept climbing to $4.04…
That left a tight 89% AFFO payout ratio for 2025. Analysts expect it to ease to 82% this year as AFFO per share jumps about 15%, to $5.21. That’s a big jump, but the quarter backs it up. Total AFFO rose to $1.32 billion from $1.04 billion a year earlier, and CFO Timothy Arndt said Prologis is “raising our outlook to reflect the strength of our operating performance and continued visibility into earnings growth.” (Last year’s consensus landed within 1% of the actual.)
The trade-off is debt. Net debt is 5.24 times EBITDA, and operating earnings cover interest 3.81 times, both well behind Public Storage.
So which dividend wins?
I have to go with Public Storage here. Even though Prologis’ dividend has grown every year for 12 years, the business underneath it is growing, and its coverage is set to improve this year…Public Storage just has fewer questions.
Bottom line, Public Storage’s dividend is still the safer one today. It pays the bigger check, keeps a quarter of its AFFO in reserve, and carries far less debt. If the National Storage Affiliates deal delivers the $110 million to $130 million in yearly savings management expects within three to four years, that cushion only grows.
So what is Public Storage’s stock actually worth?
TIKR lets you forecast the future price of any stock in less than a minute. Just enter a few assumptions into TIKR’s valuation model and see what Public Storage could be worth. Start from Wall Street consensus estimates, or adjust the inputs to reflect your own view of the business. It’s free to use.
Disclaimer:
Please note that the articles on TIKR are not intended to serve as investment or financial advice from TIKR or our content team, nor are they recommendations to buy or sell any stocks. We create our content based on TIKR Terminal’s investment data and analysts’ estimates. Our analysis might not include recent company news or important updates. TIKR has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading, and happy investing!
