Critical Review: Aurizon (QRNNF) vs. The Competition

Aurizon (OTCMKTS:QRNNF) is one of 102 publicly-traded companies in the “Ground Transportation” industry, but how does it contrast to its peers? We will compare Aurizon to similar companies based on the strength of its dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings and valuation.

Dividends

Aurizon pays an annual dividend of $0.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Aurizon pays out 54.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Ground Transportation” companies pay a dividend yield of 1.4% and pay out 28.0% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Aurizon and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Aurizon	0	1	0	0	2.00
Aurizon Competitors	1333	6317	8402	251	2.46

Aurizon currently has a consensus target price of $3.80, indicating a potential upside of 22.58%. As a group, “Ground Transportation” companies have a potential upside of 11.68%. Given Aurizon’s higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Aurizon is more favorable than its peers.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

13.3% of Aurizon shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 59.7% of shares of all “Ground Transportation” companies are held by institutional investors. 15.2% of shares of all “Ground Transportation” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Aurizon and its peers gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Aurizon	N/A	N/A	26.27
Aurizon Competitors	$8.60 billion	$895.12 million	48.55

Aurizon’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than Aurizon. Aurizon is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Profitability

This table compares Aurizon and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Aurizon	N/A	N/A	N/A
Aurizon Competitors	5.40%	9.33%	3.79%

Summary

Aurizon peers beat Aurizon on 11 of the 13 factors compared.

About Aurizon

Aurizon Holdings Limited, through its subsidiaries, operates as a rail freight operator in Australia. The company operates through Network, Coal, Bulk, and Other segments. It transports various commodities, including mining, agricultural, industrial, and retail products; and retail goods and groceries across small and big towns, and cities, as well as coal and iron ore. The company also operates and manages the Central Queensland Coal Network that consists of 2,670 kilometers of track network; and provides various specialist services, such as rail design, engineering, construction, management, and maintenance, as well as supply chain solutions. It serves miners, primary producers, and the industry. The company was formerly known as QR National Limited and changed its name to Aurizon Holdings Limited in December 2012. The company was incorporated in 2010 and is headquartered in Fortitude Valley, Australia.