Analyzing Janel World Trade (OTCMKTS:JANL) & Universal Logistics (NASDAQ:ULH)

Universal Logistics (NASDAQ:ULH) and Janel World Trade (OTCMKTS:JANL) are both small-cap transportation companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, earnings, dividends, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Volatility and Risk

Universal Logistics has a beta of 0.9, indicating that its share price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Janel World Trade has a beta of 0.01, indicating that its share price is 99% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Universal Logistics and Janel World Trade, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Universal Logistics	1	2	0	0	1.67
Janel World Trade	0	0	0	0	0.00

Universal Logistics presently has a consensus target price of $24.00, suggesting a potential upside of 58.74%. Given Universal Logistics’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Universal Logistics is more favorable than Janel World Trade.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Universal Logistics and Janel World Trade”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Universal Logistics	$1.67 billion	0.24	$129.91 million	$2.33	6.49
Janel World Trade	$183.18 million	0.21	$550,000.00	$2.18	14.68

Universal Logistics has higher revenue and earnings than Janel World Trade. Universal Logistics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Janel World Trade, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Universal Logistics and Janel World Trade’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Universal Logistics	3.66%	9.47%	3.49%
Janel World Trade	1.46%	14.11%	2.59%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

25.5% of Universal Logistics shares are held by institutional investors. 73.6% of Universal Logistics shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 28.0% of Janel World Trade shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Universal Logistics beats Janel World Trade on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Universal Logistics

Universal Logistics Holdings, Inc. provides transportation and logistics solutions in the United States, Mexico, Canada, and Colombia. The company offers truckload services, which include dry van, flatbed, heavy-haul, and refrigerated operations; domestic and international freight forwarding, and customs brokerage services. It transports various commodities comprising automotive parts, machinery, building materials, paper, food, consumer goods, furniture, steel, and other metals. The company also provides value-added services for individual customer requirements, including material handling, consolidation, sequencing, sub-assembly, cross-dock, kitting, repacking, warehousing, and returnable container management; and intermodal support services comprising short-to-medium distance delivery of steamship and rail truck containers between the port or railhead, and the customer. It serves automotive, steel, and other metals, retail and consumer goods, energy, and manufacturing industries, as well as other transportation companies who aggregate loads from various shippers. The company was formerly known as Universal Truckload Services, Inc. and changed its name to Universal Logistics Holdings, Inc. in April 2016. Universal Logistics Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1932 and is headquartered in Warren, Michigan.

About Janel World Trade

Janel Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides logistics services worldwide. It operates through three segments: Logistics, Life Sciences, and Manufacturing. The Logistics segment provides cargo transportation logistics management services, including freight forwarding by air, ocean, and land-based carriers; customs brokerage services; warehousing and distribution services; and other value added logistic services, as well as customs entry filing, cargo insurance procurement, logistics planning, product repackaging, and online shipment tracking services. The Life Sciences segment manufactures and distributes monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies, diagnostic reagents, and other immuno-reagents for biomedical research; provides antibody manufacturing for academic and industry research scientists; and produces products for other life science companies on an original equipment manufacturer basis. The Manufacturing segment manufactures and distributes mixing equipment and apparatus for various industries, such as chemicals, inks, paints, construction, plastics, adhesives, cosmetics, food, and pharmaceuticals. The company was formerly known as Janel World Trade Ltd. and changed its name to Janel Corporation in April 2015. Janel Corporation was founded in 1974 and is headquartered in New York, New York.