Critical Contrast: Old Dominion Freight Line (NASDAQ:ODFL) and XPO (NYSE:XPO)

Old Dominion Freight Line (NASDAQ:ODFL) and XPO (NYSE:XPO) are both large-cap transportation companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, profitability, valuation and institutional ownership.

Volatility and Risk

Old Dominion Freight Line has a beta of 1.19, suggesting that its stock price is 19% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, XPO has a beta of 1.95, suggesting that its stock price is 95% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Old Dominion Freight Line and XPO’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Old Dominion Freight Line	19.42%	25.94%	19.95%
XPO	4.32%	26.48%	5.57%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Old Dominion Freight Line and XPO, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Old Dominion Freight Line	1	15	8	0	2.29
XPO	1	1	19	0	2.86

Old Dominion Freight Line presently has a consensus target price of $163.86, suggesting a potential upside of 18.71%. XPO has a consensus target price of $143.00, suggesting a potential upside of 10.22%. Given Old Dominion Freight Line’s higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Old Dominion Freight Line is more favorable than XPO.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

77.8% of Old Dominion Freight Line shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.7% of XPO shares are owned by institutional investors. 10.0% of Old Dominion Freight Line shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.0% of XPO shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Old Dominion Freight Line and XPO”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Old Dominion Freight Line	$5.81 billion	4.99	$1.19 billion	$5.12	26.96
XPO	$8.07 billion	1.89	$387.00 million	$2.89	44.89

Old Dominion Freight Line has higher earnings, but lower revenue than XPO. Old Dominion Freight Line is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than XPO, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

About Old Dominion Freight Line

Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. operates as a less-than-truckload motor carrier in the United States and North America. The company offers regional, inter-regional, and national less-than-truckload services, as well as expedited transportation. It also provides various value-added services, including container drayage, truckload brokerage, and supply chain consulting. As of December 31, 2023, it owned and operated 10,791 tractors, 31,233 linehaul trailers, and 15,181 pickup and delivery trailers; 46 fleet maintenance centers; and 257 service centers. Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. was founded in 1934 and is headquartered in Thomasville, North Carolina.

About XPO

XPO, Inc. provides freight transportation services in the United States, rest of North America, France, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, North American LTL and European Transportation. The North American LTL segment provides customers with less-than-truckload (LTL) services, such as geographic density and day-definite domestic services. This segment also offers cross-border U.S., Mexico, Canada, and the Caribbean, as well as engages in the operation of trailer manufacturing. The European Transportation segment offers dedicated truckload, LTL, truck brokerage, managed transportation, last mile, freight forwarding and multimodal solutions, such as road-rail and road-short sea combinations. It provides its services to customers in various industries, such as industrial and manufacturing, retail and e-commerce, food and beverage, logistics and transportation, and consumer goods. The company was formerly known as XPO Logistics, Inc. and changed its name to XPO, Inc. in December 2022. XPO, Inc. was incorporated in 2000 and is based in Greenwich, Connecticut.