Comparing DHL Group (OTCMKTS:DHLGY) & Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD)

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) and DHL Group (OTCMKTS:DHLGY) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation and risk.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

53.4% of Heartland Express shares are owned by institutional investors. 41.6% of Heartland Express shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Heartland Express pays an annual dividend of $0.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. DHL Group pays an annual dividend of $0.77 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Heartland Express pays out -28.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. DHL Group pays out 26.9% 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.

Volatility and Risk

Heartland Express has a beta of 1.33, meaning that its share price is 33% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, DHL Group has a beta of 1.19, meaning that its share price is 19% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Heartland Express and DHL Group”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Heartland Express	$805.71 million	1.08	-$52.45 million	($0.28)	-40.36
DHL Group	$93.72 billion	0.77	$3.96 billion	$2.86	11.42

DHL Group has higher revenue and earnings than Heartland Express. Heartland Express is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than DHL Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Heartland Express and DHL Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Heartland Express	-2.98%	-0.92%	-0.58%
DHL Group	4.38%	16.44%	5.22%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Heartland Express and DHL Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Heartland Express	3	3	1	0	1.71
DHL Group	0	6	2	1	2.44

Heartland Express presently has a consensus target price of $13.00, indicating a potential upside of 15.04%. Given Heartland Express’ higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Heartland Express is more favorable than DHL Group.

Summary

DHL Group beats Heartland Express on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Heartland Express

Heartland Express, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a short-to-medium, and long-haul truckload carrier in the United States and Canada. It primarily provides nationwide asset-based dry van truckload service for shippers; cross-border freight and other transportation services; and temperature-controlled truckload services. The company offers its services under the Heartland Express and Millis Transfer brand names. It primarily serves retailers and manufacturers in consumer goods, appliances, food products, and automotive industries. The company was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in North Liberty, Iowa.

About DHL Group

Deutsche Post AG operates as a mail and logistics company in Germany, rest of Europe, the Americas, the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa. The company operates through five segments: Express; Global Forwarding, Freight; Supply Chain; eCommerce Solutions; and Post & Parcel Germany. The Express segment offers time-definite courier and express services to business and private customers. The Global Forwarding, Freight segment provides air, ocean, and overland freight forwarding services; and offers multimodal and sector-specific solutions. This segment's business model is based on brokering transport services between customers and freight carriers. The Supply Chain segment delivers customized supply chain solutions to its customers based on modular components, including warehousing and transport services; and value-added services, such as e-fulfilment, omnichannel solutions and returns management, lead logistics partner, real estate solutions, service logistics, and packaging solutions for various industrial sectors. The eCommerce Solutions segment provides parcel delivery and cross-border non-time definite international services. The Post & Parcel Germany segment transports and delivers mail communication, parcels, physical and hybrid letters, and special products for the delivery of goods; and offers additional services, such as registered mail, cash on delivery, and insured items. Deutsche Post AG was founded in 1490 and is headquartered in Bonn, Germany.