Firstgroup (OTCMKTS:FGROY) versus Matson (NYSE:MATX) Financial Analysis

Firstgroup (OTCMKTS:FGROY) and Matson (NYSE:MATX) are both transportation companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Firstgroup and Matson, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Firstgroup	0	0	0	0	0.00
Matson	0	3	1	0	2.25

Matson has a consensus target price of $131.67, indicating a potential upside of 24.93%. Given Matson’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Matson is more favorable than Firstgroup.

Volatility & Risk

Firstgroup has a beta of 0.8, indicating that its share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Matson has a beta of 1.21, indicating that its share price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Firstgroup pays an annual dividend of $0.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Matson pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Matson pays out 9.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Matson has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

84.8% of Matson shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Firstgroup shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.1% of Matson shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Firstgroup and Matson”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Firstgroup	$6.46 billion	0.23	$162.68 million	N/A	N/A
Matson	$3.42 billion	0.98	$476.40 million	$14.79	7.13

Matson has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Firstgroup.

Profitability

This table compares Firstgroup and Matson’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Firstgroup	N/A	N/A	N/A
Matson	14.26%	18.90%	10.95%

Summary

Matson beats Firstgroup on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Firstgroup

FirstGroup plc provides public transport services in the United Kingdom. The company operates through First Bus and First Rail segments. The First Bus segment offers local bus services with a fleet of approximately 4,800 buses in the United Kingdom. The First Rail segment operates a passenger rail network that provides long-distance, commuter, regional, and sleeper services through a portfolio of Great Western Railway, South Western Railway, and Avanti West Coast franchises; and hull trains and Lumos. FirstGroup plc was founded in 1986 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.

About Matson

Matson, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of ocean transportation and logistics services. It operates through two segments, Ocean Transportation and Logistics. The Ocean Transportation segment offers ocean freight transportation services to the domestic non-contiguous economies of Hawaii, Japan, Alaska, and Guam, as well as to other island economies in Micronesia. It primarily transports dry containers of mixed commodities, refrigerated commodities, food products, beverages, building materials, automobiles, and household goods; livestock; seafood; general sustenance cargo; and garments, footwear, e-commerce, and other retail merchandise. This segment also operates an expedited service from China to Long Beach, California, and various islands in the South Pacific, as well as Okinawa, Japan; and provides stevedoring, refrigerated cargo services, inland transportation, container equipment maintenance, and other terminal services to ocean carriers on the Hawaiian islands of Oahu, Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai, as well as in the Alaska locations of Anchorage, Kodiak, and Dutch Harbor. In addition, it offers vessel management and container transshipment services. The Logistics segment provides multimodal transportation brokerage services, including domestic and international rail intermodal, long-haul and regional highway trucking, specialized hauling, flat-bed and project, less-than-truckload, and expedited freight services; less-than-container load consolidation and freight forwarding services; warehousing and distribution services; supply chain management services, and non-vessel operating common carrier freight forwarding services. It serves the U.S. military, freight forwarders, retailers, consumer goods, automobile manufacturers, and other customers. The company was formerly known as Alexander & Baldwin Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to Matson, Inc. in June 2012. Matson, Inc. was founded in 1882 and is headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii.