- U-Haul Holding Company will present at the KeyBanc Capital Markets Self-Storage Investor Forum in New York on January 8, 2026.
- It remains North America’s third-largest self-storage operator with about 1.11 million rentable units across 96.5 million square feet owned and managed.
- Self-storage revenue is rising, but occupancy has softened and segment profitability is pressured by higher depreciation, equipment disposal losses, and heavy capex.
- Investors will focus on returns from U-Box and the storage development pipeline versus leverage, capital discipline, and valuation relative to REIT peers.
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The announcement that U-Haul Holding Company will participate in the KeyBanc Capital Markets Self-Storage Investor Forum in New York City on January 8, 2026 underscores the company’s desire to highlight its growing role in the self-storage market and to engage with investors focused on real estate and storage REITs. [Primary source]
According to its public disclosures, U-Haul operates an enormous self-storage business: ~1,111,000 rentable units totaling 96.5 million square feet of space (owned & managed), making it the third-largest self-storage operator in North America.[0search1] The company also runs a fleet of ~203,000 trucks, ~137,400 trailers, and ~41,700 towing devices across 25,000+ locations. [Primary; 0search1] These scale metrics give the company an infrastructure moat.
On the financial side, self-storage revenue increased ~8-8.6% year-over-year in recent quarterly financials, but occupancy rates have declined in both the same-store and total portfolio metrics (e.g. to ~91.9-92.8% for same-store, ~79-82% overall) as newer capacity comes online. [0search10; 0search11; 0search9] Meanwhile, the moving and storage segment faces pressure from sharply rising depreciation expenses and losses related to disposal of older equipment. For fiscal year 2025, capital expenditures rose to ~$3.45-$3.46 billion. [0search6; 0search9; 0search4]
Strategically, U-Haul is pushing aggressively into growth: increasing real estate development (15-20 million rentable square feet in the pipeline), expanding U-Box portable storage, growing its dealer network to exceed 25,000 locations, and leaning into digital tools such as Truck Share 24/7 and self-return/self-dispatch systems. [0search1; 0search9; 0search7]
However, several risks and questions merit attention. First, declining occupancy may erode pricing power once development completions saturate certain micro-markets. Second, depreciation and disposal losses are currently a drag on reported earnings and will require stabilization over time. Third, U-Haul’s leverage—total debt in excess of $7 billion—and interest expense increases place pressure on operating cash flow. [0search6; 0search9] Valuation metrics are currently lower than public storage REITs, granting potential upside if the company can close the earnings gap. [0search4; 0search7]
Going into the KeyBanc forum, investors will likely focus on how U-Haul intends to balance growth with profit margin recovery, how it views competitive pressure from public REITs, and whether its strategy with U-Box and storage pipelines can deliver scalable returns amid rising supply and macroeconomic risks (e.g. housing downturns, cost inflation). The forum offers a stage to clarify these points.
Supporting Notes
- U-Haul has ~1,111,000 rentable self-storage units and ~96.5 million square feet of space under ownership or management; it is the third-largest self-storage operator in North America. [0search1]
- Total fleet: ~203,000 trucks, ~137,400 trailers, ~41,700 towing devices; over 25,000 locations across 50 U.S. states and 10 Canadian provinces. [Primary; 0search1]
- Self-storage revenue grew ~8-8.6% YoY in recent quarters; average revenue per occupied square foot increased even as occupancy slipped to ~91.9-92.8% in same-store stores. [0search10; 0search11; 0search9]
- Capital expenditure in fiscal 2025 reached ~$3.45-3.46 billion, driven by fleet renewal and storage portfolio expansion; debt rose to ~$7.23 billion. [0search6; 0search9]
- Occupancy metrics: same-store occupancy around 91.9–92.8%; portfolio average in owned storage around 79-82%; drop from prior periods. [0search10; 0search6]
- Strategic initiatives: U-Box growth, development pipeline of ~15-20 million rentable square feet pending, expansion of dealer network. [0search9; 0search7; 0search1]
- Valuation: U-Haul trading at lower EV/EBITDA multiples (around 16× in some analyses) compared to public storage REITs trading at 20-25× multiples. [0search4; 0search7]