Contrasting Reliance (NYSE:RS) & Rush Enterprises (NASDAQ:RUSHA)

Rush Enterprises (NASDAQ:RUSHA) and Reliance (NYSE:RS) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Rush Enterprises and Reliance, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Rush Enterprises	1	1	3	0	2.40
Reliance	1	5	2	1	2.33

Rush Enterprises presently has a consensus price target of $46.00, suggesting a potential downside of 4.56%. Reliance has a consensus price target of $379.83, suggesting a potential downside of 3.29%. Given Reliance’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Reliance is more favorable than Rush Enterprises.

Volatility & Risk

Rush Enterprises has a beta of 0.88, suggesting that its share price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Reliance has a beta of 0.96, suggesting that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Rush Enterprises and Reliance”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Rush Enterprises	$7.43 billion	0.76	$263.78 million	$2.21	21.81
Reliance	$14.29 billion	1.40	$739.40 million	$17.20	22.83

Reliance has higher revenue and earnings than Rush Enterprises. Rush Enterprises is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Reliance, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

84.4% of Rush Enterprises shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.3% of Reliance shares are owned by institutional investors. 12.7% of Rush Enterprises shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Reliance shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Rush Enterprises and Reliance’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Rush Enterprises	3.67%	11.65%	5.84%
Reliance	5.65%	12.51%	8.47%

Dividends

Rush Enterprises pays an annual dividend of $0.51 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Reliance pays an annual dividend of $5.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Rush Enterprises pays out 23.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Reliance pays out 29.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Rush Enterprises has increased its dividend for 6 consecutive years and Reliance has increased its dividend for 15 consecutive years. Reliance is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Reliance beats Rush Enterprises on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Rush Enterprises

Rush Enterprises, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated retailer of commercial vehicles and related services in the United States and Canada. The company operates a network of commercial vehicle dealerships under the Rush Truck Centers name. Its Rush Truck Centers primarily sell commercial vehicles manufactured by Peterbilt, International, Hino, Ford, Isuzu, IC Bus, Blue Bird, and Dennis Eagle. The company also offers new and used commercial vehicles, and aftermarket parts, as well as service and repair, financing, and leasing and rental services; and offers property and casualty insurance, including collision and liability insurance on commercial vehicles, cargo insurance, and credit life insurance products. In addition, it provides equipment installation and repair, parts installation, and paint and body repair services; new vehicle pre-delivery inspection, truck modification, and natural gas fuel system installation services, body, chassis upfitting, and component installation services; and vehicle telematics products, as well as sells new and used trailers, and tires for use on commercial vehicles. The company serves regional and national fleets, corporations, local and state governments, and owner-operators. It operates a network of centers located in the states of Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Ontario. Rush Enterprises, Inc. was incorporated in 1965 and is headquartered in New Braunfels, Texas.

About Reliance

Reliance, Inc. operates as a diversified metal solutions provider and the metals service center company in the United States, Canada, and internationally. The company distributes a line of approximately 100,000 metal products, including alloy, aluminum, brass, copper, carbon steel, stainless steel, titanium, and specialty steel products; and provides metals processing services to general manufacturing, non-residential construction, transportation, aerospace, energy, electronics and semiconductor fabrication, and heavy industries. It sells its products directly to original equipment manufacturers, which primarily include small machine shops and fabricators. The company was formerly known as Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. and changed its name to Reliance, Inc. in February 2024. Reliance, Inc. was founded in 1939 and is based in Scottsdale, Arizona.