Market Direction and Stock Trends

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Big Money Hoards Shares of Life Storage (LSI)
By: Lucas Downey | January 24, 2022

• Life Storage, Inc. (LSI) stock has soared over the past year, gaining 64.5%.

And despite a near-term drop, the real estate investment trust or REIT focused on self-storage facilities in the U.S. and Canada could rise even more due to strong demand. But another likely reason is Big Money lifting the stock.

So, what’s Big Money? Said simply, that’s when a stock goes up in price alongside chunky volumes. It’s indicative of institutions betting on the shares.

Smart money managers are always looking for the next hot stock. And Life Storage has many fundamental qualities that are attractive.

This sets up well for the stock going forward. But how the shares have been trading points to more upside. As I’ll show you, the Big Money has been consistent in the shares.

You see, fund managers are always looking to bet on the next outlier stocks…the best in class. They spend countless hours sizing up companies, reading reports, speaking to analysts…you name it. When they find a company firing on all cylinders, they pounce in a big way.

That’s why I’ve learned how critical it is to gauge Big Money demand for shares. To show you what I mean, have a look at all the Big Money signals LSI has made the last year.

The last few months have seen Big Money activity, too. Each green bar signals big trading volumes as the stock ramped in price:

Source: www.mapsignals.com

In the last year, the stock attracted 28 Big Money buy signals. Generally speaking, recent green bars could mean more upside is ahead.

Now, let’s check out technical action grabbing my attention:

• 3-month outperformance vs. Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF (+6.5% vs. XLRE)

Outperformance is important for leading stocks.

Next, it’s a good idea to check under the hood. Meaning, I want to make sure the fundamental story is strong too. As you can see, Life Storage has been growing sales and earnings at double-digit rates. Take a look:

• 1-year sales growth rate (+22.8%)
• 3-year earnings growth rate (+32.1%)

Source: FactSet

Marrying great fundamentals with technically superior stocks is a winning recipe over the long-term.

In fact, LSI has recently become a top-rated stock at my research firm, MAPsignals. That means the stock has buy pressure, strong technicals, and growing fundamentals. We have a ranking process that showcases stocks like this on a weekly basis.

LSI has a lot of qualities that are attracting Big Money. It’s made this list 6 times since 2016, all within the last year, first appearing on 8/10/2021…and gaining 13.69% since. The blue bars below show the times that Life Storage was a top pick:


Source: www.mapsignals.com

It’s been a top stock in the real estate sector according to the MAPsignals process. I wouldn’t be surprised if LSI makes additional appearances in the years to come. Let’s tie this all together.

The Bottom Line

The Life Storage rally could have further to go. Big Money buying in the shares is signaling to take notice. Shares could be positioned for further upside, plus its dividend was recently raised to 2.6%. Given the historical gains in share price and strong fundamentals, this stock could be worth a spot in a growth-oriented portfolio.

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