Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) and Yellow (NASDAQ:YELLQ) Financial Comparison

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) and Yellow (NASDAQ:YELLQ) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership and valuation.

Volatility & Risk

Werner Enterprises has a beta of 0.83, meaning that its stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Yellow has a beta of 2.86, meaning that its stock price is 186% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

85.1% of Werner Enterprises shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 35.7% of Yellow shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.2% of Werner Enterprises shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.2% of Yellow shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Werner Enterprises and Yellow’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Werner Enterprises	4.48%	10.87%	5.15%
Yellow	-1.65%	N/A	-3.49%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Werner Enterprises and Yellow, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Werner Enterprises	2	5	8	0	2.40
Yellow	0	0	0	0	N/A

Werner Enterprises currently has a consensus price target of $47.12, indicating a potential upside of 26.73%. Given Werner Enterprises’ higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Werner Enterprises is more favorable than Yellow.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Werner Enterprises and Yellow’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Werner Enterprises	$3.32 billion	0.71	$241.26 million	$2.33	15.96
Yellow	$5.24 billion	0.02	$21.80 million	($1.55)	-1.03

Werner Enterprises has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Yellow. Yellow is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Werner Enterprises, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Werner Enterprises beats Yellow on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Werner Enterprises

Werner Enterprises, Inc., a transportation and logistics company, engages in transporting truckload shipments of general commodities in interstate and intrastate commerce in the United States, Mexico, and internationally. It operates through Truckload Transportation Services and Werner Logistics segments. The Truckload Transportation Services segment operates medium-to-long-haul van fleet that transports various consumer nondurable products and other commodities in truckload quantities using dry van trailers; the expedited fleet, which offers time-sensitive truckload services using driver teams; regional short-haul fleet that provides comparable truckload van service in the United States; and temperature controlled fleet, which offers truckload services for temperature sensitive products using temperature-controlled trailers. It transports retail store merchandise, consumer products, food and beverage products, and manufactured products. The Werner Logistics segment provides non-asset-based transportation and logistics services, including truck brokerage; logistics management services and solutions; rail transportation through alliances with rail and drayage providers; and residential and commercial deliveries of large or heavy items using liftgate straight truck. As of December 31, 2022, the company had a fleet of 8,600 trucks, which included 8,305 company-operated, as well as 295 owned and operated by independent contractors;29,965 company-owned trailers that comprised dry vans, flatbeds, temperature-controlled, and other trailers. Werner Enterprises, Inc. was founded in 1956 and is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska.

About Yellow

Yellow Corporation does not have significant operations. Previously, the company provided various transportation services primarily in North America. The company primarily offered less-than-truckload (LTL) shipments and supply chain solutions to ship industrial, commercial, and retail goods. It also provided customer-specific logistics solutions, including truckload, residential, and warehouse solutions, as well as apparels, appliances, automotive parts, chemicals, food, furniture, glass, machinery, metal, metal products, non-bulk petroleum products, rubber, textiles, wood, and other manufactured products or components. In addition, the company offered specialized services, such as guaranteed expedited, time-specific delivery, cross-border, exhibit, product return, and government material shipment services; and consolidation and distribution, reverse logistics, and residential white glove services. As of December 31, 2022, it had a fleet of approximately 12,700 tractors comprising 11,700 owned and 1,000 leased tractors; and approximately 42,000 trailers consisting of 34,800 owned and 7,200 leased trailers. The company was formerly known as YRC Worldwide Inc. and changed its name to Yellow Corporation in February 2021. Yellow Corporation was founded in 1924 and is based in Nashville, Tennessee. On August 6, 2023, Yellow Corporation, along with its affiliates, filed a voluntary petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.