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

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

Risk and Volatility

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

Valuation & Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
U-Haul	$6.14 billion	1.80	$83.13 million	$0.31	183.05
Knight-Swift Transportation	$7.47 billion	1.27	$65.95 million	$0.93	62.77

U-Haul has higher earnings, but lower revenue 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.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

3.6% of U-Haul shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 88.8% of Knight-Swift Transportation shares are held by institutional investors. 43.8% of U-Haul shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.9% of Knight-Swift Transportation shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for U-Haul and Knight-Swift Transportation, as reported by MarketBeat.

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

U-Haul presently has a consensus target price of $90.00, suggesting a potential upside of 58.60%. Knight-Swift Transportation has a consensus target price of $83.22, suggesting a potential upside of 42.55%. Given U-Haul’s higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe U-Haul is more favorable than Knight-Swift Transportation.

Profitability

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

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

Summary

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

About U-Haul

AMERCO operates as a do-it-yourself moving and storage operator for household and commercial goods in the United States and Canada. The company’s Moving and Storage segment rents trucks, trailers, portable moving and storage units, specialty rental items, and self-storage spaces primarily to the household movers; and sells moving supplies, towing accessories, and propane. It also provides uhaul.com, an online marketplace that connects consumers to independent Moving Help service providers and independent self-storage affiliates; auto transport and tow dolly options to transport vehicles; and specialty boxes for dishes, computers, and sensitive electronic equipment, as well as tapes, security locks, and packing supplies. This segment rents its products and services through a network of approximately 2,065 company operated retail moving stores and 20,100 independent U-Haul dealers. As of March 31, 2020, it had a rental fleet of approximately 176,000 trucks, 127,000 trailers, and 41,000 towing devices; and 1,745 self-storage locations with approximately 774,000 rentable storage units. The company’s Property and Casualty Insurance segment offers loss adjusting and claims handling services. It also provides moving and storage protection packages, such as Safemove and Safetow packages, which offer moving and towing customers with a damage waiver, cargo protection, and medical and life insurance coverage; Safestor that protects storage customers from loss on their goods in storage; Safestor Mobile, which protects customers stored belongings; and Safemove Plus, which provides rental customers with a layer of primary liability protection. The company’s Life Insurance segment provides life and health insurance products primarily to the senior market through the direct writing and reinsuring of life insurance, medicare supplement, and annuity policies. AMERCO was founded in 1945 and is based in Reno, Nevada.

About Knight-Swift Transportation

Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides freight transportation services in the United States and Mexico. The company operates through four segments: Truckload, Less-than-truckload (LTL), Logistics, and Intermodal. The Truckload segment provides transportation services, which include irregular route and dedicated, refrigerated, expedited, flatbed, and cross-border operations. This segment operated an average of 20,948 tractors, which comprised 18,821 company tractors and 2,127 independent contractor tractors, as well as 87,865 trailers. The LTL segment provides regional LTL transportation services through a network of approximately 120 service centers; and offers national coverage through partner carrier outside the network. This segment operated an average of 3,201 tractors and 8,482 trailers. The Logistic segment offers brokerage and other freight management services through third-party transportation providers and equipment. The Intermodal segment offers transportation services, including freight through third-party intermodal rail services on trailing equipment, such as containers and trailers on flat cars; and drayage services. This segment operated an average of 639 tractors and 12,730 intermodal containers. The company also provides repair and maintenance shop, equipment leasing, warranty, and insurance services; and warehousing and driving academy services, as well as manufactures trailer parts. It serves retail, food and beverage, consumer and paper products, transportation and logistics, housing, and building, automotive, and manufacturing industries. Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. was incorporated in 1989 and is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.