Cintas (NASDAQ:CTAS) and Element Fleet Management (OTCMKTS:ELEEF) Head to Head Survey

Element Fleet Management (OTCMKTS:ELEEF) and Cintas (NASDAQ:CTAS) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Element Fleet Management and Cintas, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Element Fleet Management	0	0	2	1	3.33
Cintas	1	5	8	0	2.50

Cintas has a consensus price target of $216.08, suggesting a potential upside of 11.95%. Given Cintas’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Cintas is more favorable than Element Fleet Management.

Profitability

This table compares Element Fleet Management and Cintas’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Element Fleet Management	23.33%	24.75%	3.91%
Cintas	17.82%	42.57%	20.07%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

63.5% of Cintas shares are owned by institutional investors. 14.4% of Cintas shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Element Fleet Management pays an annual dividend of $0.43 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Cintas pays an annual dividend of $2.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Element Fleet Management pays out 58.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Cintas pays out 41.0% 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. Cintas has increased its dividend for 42 consecutive years.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Element Fleet Management and Cintas”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Element Fleet Management	$1.19 billion	5.21	$279.13 million	$0.74	21.34
Cintas	$11.26 billion	6.87	$2.00 billion	$5.07	38.07

Cintas has higher revenue and earnings than Element Fleet Management. Element Fleet Management is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cintas, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Cintas beats Element Fleet Management on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Element Fleet Management

Element Fleet Management Corp. operates as a fleet management company primarily in Canada, Mexico, Australia, and New Zealand. The company offers end-to-end fleet cars, trucks, and material handling support equipment acquisition; and end-to-end electric vehicle fleet including fleet planning, charging infrastructure solutions, acquisition, financing, maintenance, and remarketing. It provides commercial fleet financing comprising operating and capital lease, sale and leaseback funding, loans, rental fleet financing, client owned acquisition program, and fair market value lease for fleet cars, trucks, and equipment; and vehicle licensing and registration services, such as renewal, fleet title management, and insurance card management services. In addition, the company provides collision management services, such as 24/7 driver assistance, collision evaluation, repair management, and subrogation; fleet management outsourcing solutions; fuel, maintenance, and safety solutions; telematics and fleet connectivity solutions; and toll and violation management, as well as fleet remarketing, sale leaseback, and strategic fleet management consulting services. It serves construction, energy, oil and gas, food and beverages, healthcare, services, and transport sectors. Element Fleet Management Corp. was incorporated in 2007 and is based in Toronto, Canada.

About Cintas

Cintas Corporation engages in the provision of corporate identity uniforms and related business services primarily in the United States, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Uniform Rental and Facility Services, First Aid and Safety Services, and All Other segments. The company rents and services uniforms and other garments, including flame resistant clothing, mats, mops and shop towels, and other ancillary items; and provides restroom cleaning services and supplies, as well as sells uniforms. In addition, the company offers first aid and safety services, and fire protection products and services. It provides its products and services through its distribution network and local delivery routes, or local representatives to small service and manufacturing companies, as well as major corporations. The company was founded in 1968 and is based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Cintas Corporation was formerly a subsidiary of Cintas Corporation.