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The Lompoc Aftershock is heading to Modesto over the 4th of July weekend for the NSA State Championships with games beginning at 8 a.m. on Independence Day. Then they're off to Las Vegas the following weekend to compete in the NSA Western World Series against some of the top teams in the West, with opening ceremonies on Wednesday, July 16 and pool play beginning at 8 a.m. Thursday. The team includes (front row, from left)Mariah Escobedo, Mariah Villalobos, Jasmin Salas, Tasi Taua; (second row, from left)Amber Hooks, Jacqueline Castaneda, Bianca Gonzales, Samantha Hernandez, Antoinette Terrones; (third row, from left)Alexia Wilhite, Yesenia Vega, Armani Garcia, Alina Terrones, Yesenia Carrillo, Sierra Preston; and (back row, from left) coach Emilio Salas, coach Chris Wilhite, manager Benny Garcia and coach Frank Hernandez. Not pictured is coach Scotty Marshall.In an effort to help defray the cost of competing in the NSA World Series, Aftershock is having a chicken barbecue fundraiser on Saturday, July 12, at the Elks Lodge in Lompoc from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. or until sold out. The donation is $9 per plate. The team is also accepting donations via GoFundMe at http://www.gofundme.com/aftershockfastpitch.

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Photos: Antoinette Terrones over the years | | santamariatimes.com - Santa Maria Times

I have yet to cover any REIT during my time writing on Seeking Alpha, primarily because they're already so well covered. Well, I have come across a little known one, without that much coverage at all, National Storage Affiliates (NYSE:NSA), and I quite like it.

Image: National Storage Affiliates logo

This business gets an A+ rating from my Hideaway model, which is how I came to find it. At the time of writing, it is trading up more than 5% on a pretty good day for the markets in general, but I don't think it's too late for investors with a long-term horizon to get in. Let's explore a little.

The name likely gives the business away, but I feel for these smaller, lesser-known companies that I should give a brief overview to my readers. National Storage Affiliates owns and operates regional self-storage facilities. You know, the garages that people rent for $100+ per month and fill with all the junk that won't fit in their regular garage.

If you've paid attention while driving around, you have likely seen storage units popping up all over the place in the last decade. They are an easy-to-operate, very boring business, which is really what we want to be looking for when it comes to investing.

One thing of note, however, is the lack of moat. I could buy a large plot of land today, build a storage unit, undercut on pricing, and begin building a cash flow while competing with the big players in the industry. That is what's happening, too. There are plenty of mom-and-pop storage units out there, making a relatively stable living from nothing more than garages on an empty plot of land.

As with most businesses, consolidation began to hit. Synergies began to form that allowed consolidated storage units to operate and reach customers more efficiently, and billion-dollar firms were created. That is what happened in National Storage Affiliates' case, and it continues to happen today.

Image: Map showing states with an NSA presence

National Storage Affiliates is comprised of 10 individual businesses, or Participating Regional Operators ("PROs"). These businesses have their operating regions, with their own presidents responsible for building out a storage portfolio. National Storage Affiliates as a whole then support each.

Image: NSA Brands

An individual PRO can buy a storage unit that meets their portfolio need, and it will be acquired using National Storage Affiliates' leverage, providing greater ease of operation for the PRO. Over the course of 2019, these PROs acquired 69 properties across the United States at a cost of $447.8M.

Public Storage (NYSE:PSA), a much larger storage REIT, recently warned that Q2 revenue would take a hit from the current economic crisis caused by COVID-19. The company stated there was a significant reduction in demand for self-storage space and a significant decline in move-in volumes since late March.

Image: Tweet from Aaron Edelheit

This tweet from Aaron Edelheit, CEO of Mindset Capital, quite correctly points to many of the reasons investors are becoming skeptical of storage. There's just so many of them. There is, however, one point that I'd strongly disagree with: "more of our lives moving to the digital realm," thus reducing the need for self-storage. We're not looking to store less, and we're not even buying less (yet). There's still ample demand for storage; look at this 2004-present Google Trends graph:

Image: Google Trends for "Self Storage" Topic

The interest peaked in July of 2017, but we were still above average interest in April 2020. The graph also shows that interest is heading back up in May.

My take here is that we are overbuilt, but the best locations will be snapped up by the large operators.

Turning now to the red meat, the financials. NSA is priced a little higher than its peers, but it is also growing almost every metric at significantly larger rates. Take, for instance, revenue growth:

As it's a REIT, we want the assets to be growing over time too, and NSA is growing its assets at a 17.69% CAGR over the last three years. Here are those same peers compared:

Profitability, on a comparable basis, is a little weak. Peers have much higher net income margins, returns on equity, and returns on assets than National Storage Affiliates. The explanation for this is quite simple; all those PROs we mentioned in the beginning, they receive distributions as minority interests.

For this reason, I decided to compare NSA to peers on an operating income level. Unfortunately, the firm still falls short there. This is due to a higher SG/A cost, as well as higher depreciation than peers. The following table shows those values as a percentage:

Depreciation isn't a bad thing, though; it allows NSA to have a lower taxable income and is done on a straight-line basis. With proper maintenance, the buildings are likely still worth something, and thankfully storage units do not require that much upkeep.

SG/A being so high is also a result of many different operating firms. Could this be better? Absolutely. If cost cuts are needed, this gives NSA a lot of "padding" to get it done.

Finally, FFO is at $1.53 per share over the trailing 12 months. This has NSA trading at ~18x FFO at the time of writing, an affordable price for a REIT that handily has its dividend covered.

As mentioned in the introduction to this article, I selected National Storage to research thanks to its "A+" Hideaway Score. The Hideaway Score combines momentum, quality, and value scores to create a composite score. A+ stocks, in early testing, are beating the market quite handedly, while C stocks perform in line with the S&P 500.

Here is how the five stocks discussed in this article rank:

Data by YCharts

Chart: FFO/S TTM for 5 years

I mentioned in the financials section that NSA has an ~18x P/FFO metric hanging over its head today.

Looking at the graph above, we can see that the firm continues to have success in driving its FFO number higher. This is mostly a factor of newer properties joining the mix, but it's good for investors nonetheless.

I think over the coming years, we will start to see more and more consolidation in the space. I have mentioned throughout the article that this is an easily entered space by almost anyone with land, and I think that slowly begins to consolidate over time.

If we do see a downswing in storage use, it will hit the mom-and-pop shops the hardest (less capital to handle a down period), thus allowing the larger firms to pick up new locations at a discount.

If NSA gave up some of its traditional revenue growth (24.8% 3Y CAGR) and fell more in line with the storage market's 6%, it could reasonably see FFO of $1.60-$1.65 in FY20, and that would, in my opinion, be a slow/down year for a firm of this size and growth capacity.

With $1.65 in FFO at an 18x multiple, the firm's 2020 fair value would be in the realm of $30/share, an 8% gain over today's prices. I should note that this is my low-end estimate. If NSA can come out strong during its next earnings call and show that it does not see the same big drops PSA is experiencing, a price multiple of 20-22x is much more reasonable given the company's higher rate of growth.

20-22x would carry a $33-36.30 price target at $1.65 FFO.

National Storage Affiliates is showing great value at these levels for investors with a long-term horizon. Storage isn't going away, and the larger firms are best equipped to withstand a near-term downswing in move-in rates.

I am a buyer of this stock under $30/share.

Disclosure: I am/we are long NSA. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

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National Storage Affiliates Is A Long-Term Buy At These Prices - Seeking Alpha

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New Delhi: China will not be able to tide over the coronavirus crisis like it did with the 1989 Tiananmen Square episode, former National Security Advisor (NSA) Shivshankar Menon said Wednesday, adding that the impact of Covid-19 will continue to simmer leading to a huge reputational loss for China as well as other countries.

This is going to simmer, this is not like Tiananmen. This is a very different situation, Menon said. Its a huge reputational loss for China. Bigger the country, the bigger the loss of reputation. The Chinese have developed a reputation over the years, which now has been turned against them. Reputation will be used as a stick to beat China with.

Menon, who is also a former foreign secretary, was speaking at an online seminar hosted by the Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS). ThePrint was the media partner for the seminar Looking at Post-COVID World: The China Dimension.

According to Menon, who is also chairman of the ICS advisory board, the pandemic has also shown the nervousness with which governments and leaders around the world have dealt with the massive crisis, be it in their individual capacities or at the multilateral stage of the G20 or the UN.

If you look at the level of rhetoric, the shriller the rhetoric, the higher the claims of victory the more it sounds to me that they (world leaders) are really nervous, that they really dont know what they are doing, Menon said.

There is a shouting match that is going on between the leaders now. They are not working together. You saw the G20, you saw the UNSC, they are not managing to work together.

Also read:Pressure mounts on India to call out China for Covid as it readies to take lead role at WHO

On the growing tensions between the US and China, especially over the origin of the virus, Menon said the problems between these major powers had been rising even before the outbreak of the pandemic.

He, however, added that the US narrative on the origin of the virus will continue to rage until the US presidential elections scheduled to take place in November this year.

I think we need to wait until the US elections There is a bipartisan consensus in the US on China and it is much harsher than it has been for a very long time. So no matter what happens in the US elections there is no going back, the former foreign secretary added.

Menon also said despite these rising tensions between Washington and Beijing, both will find it painful to decouple themselves from their economic bonding.

Lets not forget they are also tied to each other like the Siamese twins on the economic side and that decoupling will be really painful for both of them. There will come a time when they will follow their economic interests, he added.

Also read:Modi had turned his back on NAM and SAARC. Covid brings them back on his table

Comparing the pandemic with the 2008-09 financial meltdown crisis, Menon said, Unlike in 2008-end and the beginning of 2009 when for most of the powers, their leadership was secure, they knew they were either going to be there or that they were not going to be there and so they could do the right thing without any fear of any effects on their political future Today you have an issue, which frankly, the leaders dont understand there isnt a kind of scientific or expert advice that you have experience of in the economic field.

He said for India the challenge will be to see where the money goes citing the $60 billion limit that the Modi government has set for coronavirus-related relief.

Ultimately you will have to see what people do with their money. Why are we (India) running such a huge trade deficit with China? This is because Indians are spending their money in China buying things. Thats where I would look six months from now, he added.

He also cautioned against India aligning with the US or with China.

Nobody shares our interest entirely I dont see any alliance really working for us. You need to position yourself where you have better relationships with both the US and China than they have with each other, said Menon, who was also Indias former Beijing envoy from 2000-2003.

Also read:India to push for Pakistans blacklisting at FATF after Handwara & Keran terror attacks

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Covid-19 different from Tiananmen, China wont be able to tide over crisis: Ex-NSA Menon - ThePrint

Venkat, a scientist of Indian origin in the US, finds that NSA, his employer, has been systematically spying on the Indian whos who. Fearing that this might be used by vested interests to blackmail India, he steals the proof and somehow makes it back to Delhi.

But little does he know that a dangerous nexus of global businessmen, US military and their minions from Pakistan with sleeper cells in India are all behind him. Riya Kaul, his former college friend and a journalist, becomes an innocent pawn in the game that follows. Venkat and Riya are almost taken down by the masterminds but for Devavrata Jatashankar Singh, aka Shaitan, a former operative of Rashtriya Rifles and currently a trusted go-to man of the national security advisor of India itself.

For a debut novel, Predators and Prey is superlatively amazing at many levels. Author Abhinav Agarwal has put in tremendous amount of research and the result is that it is impossible to keep the book down once started.

The characterisation of Delhi Durbaras a media tycoon in the book calls itwarrants a special mention. Abhinav has described the way power is brokered through vested interests in such a detailed manner that one would feel the story is a real one or at least inspired from real events. The titbits quoted from Mahabharata and other ancient Indian texts are another added delight.

Apart from a very engaging story, the book also sensitises readers about the fallibility of individual privacy. Even as we carry our precious cellphones everywhere, we know that somebody is recording every move of ours even with the devices switched off and if they can, use it against us. The sole consolation at least in the story is Indias own trusted spy network and the loyalty of heroes such as Deva and Venkat, not to mention, the rigour that our special forces operatives undergo that enables them to take on powerful enemies.

Through Riya, the female protagonist, the reader is given a birds eye view of the compromise, corruption and espionage that is rampant in the media sector. A widow of a brave soldier killed by such powers, her courage stands out.

As the world around her falls to parts, we get to know the dangers that our country is exposed to. Devas courage and feats along with the other powerful ingredients form a great material for a big screen adaptation. The readers are in for a treat when the last page drops a clue for the next adventure of Deva. Abhinav Agarwal sure takes the benchmark high up for Indian thriller scene.

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'Predators and Prey' book review: A Thrilling Ride - The New Indian Express

Natural Science Academy has about 75 students enrolled this year.

Natural Science Academy

A St. Paul Park-based charter school is facing closure after losing its authorizer.

The Osprey Wilds Environmental Learning Center, which recently changed its name from the Audubon Center of the North Woods, has chosen not to renew its contract with Natural Science Academy, citing poor academic performance and governance concerns. The Natural Science Academy had previously signed two probationary three-year contracts with them.

Osprey authorizes about 35 schools, according to its website. NSA is the only school out of the 10 up for renewal this year to not receive another contract, Erin Anderson, director of charter school authorizing, told BMTN.

The 14-year-old elementary schools website lists 11 staff members. Around 75 students are enrolled this year.

NSA staff and parents have pushed back against the decision in letters to the Minnesota Department of Education, state legislators and a widely circulated petition.

They argue that the closure is unfairly based on state test scores, but the Osprey Wilds Environmental Learning Centers correspondence to the school emphasizes poor performance according to other measures, including curriculum-based measures chosen by the school and nationally normed growth assessments. In addition, the authorizer cited concerns over the schools teacher-run leadership structure and governance.

It must be frustrating to have just been informed of this, and we are disappointed to learn that the school board did not adequately advise its community of the risk of closure, in view of the numerous communications from ACNW to the school, Anderson wrote to parents, citing notices sent to the school in May 2018 and February 2019 concerning low academic performance.

In order to be eligible for renewal, the school had to score at least 50 out of 100 points on an assessment based largely on state test scores, measures chosen by the school and nationally normed growth assessments. The school scored 60.7, making it eligible, but it didnt meet the standard for five out of eight academic categories, a March 13 notice from Osprey to NSA says.

Those five areas are reading growth, math growth, reading proficiency, math proficiency and science proficiency, based on three years worth of various measurements of academic performance.

A report from January details that Osprey received complaints against the schools lead teacher from two former employees in November 2017 and December 2019.

The complaints alleged a very stressful and negative workplace and a toxic environment of practices, according to the report.

The school has functioned under basically the same instructional leadership structure for at least the last six years (two contract periods) which has resulted in persistently low academic achievement and a lack of accountability for student outcomes, Osprey wrote in its March notice of non-renewal to the school.

At an informal hearing with Osprey in April, the school provided "ample evidence" of an improved workplace culture, Anderson said in an email. The non-renewal was ultimately based on poor academic performance and "NSA's failure to properly conduct its corporate governance," she said.

Advocates for the school have expressed confusion over the non-renewal process and surprise that the school is being closed during the pandemic.

Kate Maki, whose fourth-grade student has attended the school since kindergarten, began working at the school as a special projects coordinator two years ago.

I really like the school, I completely believe in it. And Im watching it grow and change and become this great thing, Maki said.

The school had a bad year when it was renewed in 2017, Maki said, and implemented an expeditionary learning-based curriculum the next fall.

Our last years science scores were phenomenal We were like, why are we not getting an A+ on this? she said.

She said she and other staff members had the understanding that three-year contracts were the norm.

They said, youve been on probation for six years total. And were like, well, thats always been the case So why would we even bat an eye?

"NSA is being used as a sacrificial lamb."

Harry Adler, who joined the schools board of directors in March, and has held multiple roles in education including principal, executive director of a charter school and current work helping an authorizer assess schools, expressed similar confusion.

What I find strange about it is, many of their schools are basically on probation because theyre on three-year contracts. So they call these three-year contracts probationary, and it has not been that long since the state has offered five-year contracts, he said.

In a complaint letter to the Minnesota Department of Education, Adler emphasized that comparing the schools scores to other students across the state and neighboring District 833 doesnt show an adequate representation of students academic success because of the schools small class sizes.

Thirty-nine students took the MCA tests in 2019, documents show.

Ospreys 2019 annual report shows that 15 percent of its schools had scored lower than 50 percent of their points on its academic performance evaluation, he added.

NSA is being used as a sacrificial lamb to give the perception that ACNW (Audubon Center of the North Woods)is providing strong oversight. I believe the closure decision cannot be justified analytically based on the data and is ethically wrong given the pandemic, Adler said in the letter.

MDE has said it will look into the complaint, Adler said.

Correction: A previous version of this story inaccurately described the timing of the employee complaints. In separate instances, two former employees sent a complaint to Osprey after they had stopped working there.

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Dismay, confusion over St. Paul Park charter school's impending closure - Bring Me The News