CubeSmart reported second-quarter 2026 net income of $89.6 million, up from $83.0 million a year earlier, even as its same-store portfolio posted its first negative net-operating-income quarter in years. The Malvern, Pa.-based self-storage REIT disclosed the results in a July 30 SEC filing covering the quarter ended June 30.
Diluted earnings per share rose to $0.39 from $0.36 a year earlier. But funds from operations, as adjusted β the REIT-industry profitability measure β fell to $143.1 million, or $0.63 per diluted share, down 3.1% from $148.9 million, or $0.65 per share, in the second quarter of 2025.
The divergence traces to CubeSmart’s 623-store same-store pool, where revenue grew just 0.8% while operating expenses climbed 4.4%, producing a 0.7% decline in same-store net operating income. Period-end occupancy held flat at 91.0% year over year, with average occupancy for the quarter at 90.4%.
“Second quarter results reflected continued momentum in operating fundamentals, highlighted by steady acceleration in same-store revenue growth,” CubeSmart President and CEO Christopher P. Marr said in the release, pointing to improving occupancy trends and strengthening new customer pricing across the portfolio even as the year-over-year comparison remained pressured by expense growth.
CubeSmart also disclosed a new joint venture with real estate investment manager Heitman, agreed after quarter-end and expected to close in the fourth quarter. Under the deal, CubeSmart will contribute 15 wholly owned stores β roughly 900,000 square feet spread across Connecticut, Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Utah and Virginia β at an agreed value of $197.0 million. CubeSmart will retain a 20% stake in the venture and receive cash, while Heitman takes the remaining 80% ownership.
The structure lets CubeSmart monetize a slice of its owned portfolio without fully exiting the properties, generating capital the company can redeploy toward acquisitions or share repurchases while continuing to earn fee income and a residual ownership interest. CubeSmart repurchased 1.1 million of its own shares for $42.5 million during the quarter, an average price of $38.96 per share.
The company also expanded its unsecured credit facility to $1 billion from $850 million and extended its maturity to June 2030, giving it additional liquidity headroom. CubeSmart’s third-party management platform grew to 872 stores after adding 25 new stores in the quarter, continuing the industry-wide shift among storage REITs toward fee-based management income alongside owned real estate.
CubeSmart’s board declared a quarterly dividend of $0.53 per share, paid July 15 to shareholders of record as of May 19. For full-year 2026, the company guided to diluted EPS of $1.58 to $1.64 and FFO as adjusted of $2.54 to $2.60 per share.
CubeSmart is among the largest publicly traded self-storage operators in the U.S., alongside Public Storage and Extra Space Storage, with owned and managed stores concentrated in dense coastal and Sun Belt markets. The company has increasingly emphasized third-party management and joint-venture structures over outright acquisitions in recent years as storage transaction pricing has stayed elevated relative to the income the assets generate, making it harder to acquire new properties at returns that clear the company’s cost of capital.
What it means
CubeSmart’s results underscore a bifurcated self-storage market: modest same-store revenue growth is running behind rising operating costs, squeezing margins even as occupancy stays stable. That pattern echoes across the sector β Public Storage recently completed a $10.5 billion acquisition of National Storage Affiliates as larger operators lean on consolidation and fee-generating platforms like third-party management and joint ventures to keep growing profits while organic rent gains cool. CubeSmart’s Heitman joint venture fits that pattern, trading full ownership of select assets for capital and continued fee income rather than relying solely on same-store rent increases to drive earnings.
