Critical Review: U-Haul (NYSE:UHAL) & Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX)

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) and U-Haul (NYSE:UHAL) are both large-cap industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, dividends, risk and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Knight-Swift Transportation and U-Haul, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Knight-Swift Transportation	0	3	15	2	2.95
U-Haul	1	0	1	0	2.00

Knight-Swift Transportation currently has a consensus target price of $83.22, indicating a potential upside of 34.27%. U-Haul has a consensus target price of $90.00, indicating a potential upside of 59.67%. Given U-Haul’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe U-Haul is more favorable than Knight-Swift Transportation.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Knight-Swift Transportation and U-Haul”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Knight-Swift Transportation	$8.00 billion	1.26	$65.95 million	$0.93	66.64
U-Haul	$6.04 billion	1.81	$83.13 million	$0.31	181.82

U-Haul has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Knight-Swift Transportation. Knight-Swift Transportation is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than U-Haul, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Knight-Swift Transportation and U-Haul’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Knight-Swift Transportation	1.92%	4.71%	2.77%
U-Haul	1.54%	1.21%	0.44%

Volatility & Risk

Knight-Swift Transportation has a beta of 1.2, indicating that its share price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, U-Haul has a beta of 1.07, indicating that its share price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

88.8% of Knight-Swift Transportation shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 3.6% of U-Haul shares are held by institutional investors. 2.9% of Knight-Swift Transportation shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 43.8% of U-Haul shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Knight-Swift Transportation beats U-Haul on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Knight-Swift Transportation

Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings is a transportation and logistics company providing freight services primarily across North America. Its offerings include truckload transportation, less-than-truckload shipping, freight brokerage, logistics and intermodal services. The company’s truckload operations serve a range of shipping needs, including dry van, refrigerated, flatbed and dedicated transportation. Its network also supports cross-border freight movements between the United States, Mexico and Canada.

About U-Haul

U-Haul Holding Company, formerly known as AMERCO, is a moving and storage company best known for its U-Haul brand. Its services include do-it-yourself truck and trailer rentals, towing equipment, self-storage, and moving supplies. The company also offers U-Box portable storage and moving containers. Founded in 1945 by Leonard Shoen, U-Haul serves customers across the United States and Canada through company-operated locations and independent dealers. Its operations also include related insurance and life-insurance businesses.