U-Haul (NASDAQ:UHALB) & Hub Group (NASDAQ:HUBG) Critical Comparison

Hub Group (NASDAQ:HUBG) and U-Haul (NASDAQ:UHALB) are both mid-cap transportation companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, earnings and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Hub Group and U-Haul’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hub Group	2.65%	6.81%	4.06%
U-Haul	5.31%	4.06%	1.52%

Dividends

Hub Group pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. U-Haul pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Hub Group pays out 28.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. U-Haul pays out 19.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Hub Group and U-Haul”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hub Group	$3.73 billion	0.59	$103.99 million	$1.73	20.63
U-Haul	$5.90 billion	1.61	$367.09 million	$1.01	47.92

U-Haul has higher revenue and earnings than Hub Group. Hub Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than U-Haul, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Hub Group and U-Haul, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hub Group	1	7	6	1	2.47
U-Haul	0	0	0	0	0.00

Hub Group currently has a consensus price target of $39.83, indicating a potential upside of 11.61%. Given Hub Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Hub Group is more favorable than U-Haul.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

46.8% of Hub Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 35.7% of U-Haul shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.5% of Hub Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Hub Group beats U-Haul on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Hub Group

Hub Group, Inc., a supply chain solutions provider, offers transportation and logistics management services in North America. The company's transportation services include intermodal, truckload, less-than-truckload, flatbed, temperature-controlled, and dedicated and regional trucking, as well as final mile, railcar, small parcel, and international transportation. Its logistics services comprise full outsource logistics solution, transportation management, freight consolidation, warehousing and fulfillment, final mile delivery, and parcel and international services. The company also provides dry van, expedited, less-than-truckload, refrigerated, and flatbed truck brokerage services. It offers a fleet of approximately 2,300 tractors, 460 independent owner-operators, and 4,300 trailers to its customers, as well as the management and infrastructure. The company serves a range of industries, including retail, consumer products, and durable goods. As of December 31, 2023, it owned approximately 50,000 dry, 53-foot containers, as well as 900 refrigerated and 53-foot containers. The company was founded in 1971 and is headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois.

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, flat screen television, 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 2,100 company operated retail moving stores and 21,100 independent U-Haul dealers. As of March 31, 2022, it had a rental fleet of approximately 186,000 trucks, 128,000 trailers, and 46,000 towing devices; and 1,844 self-storage locations with approximately 876,000 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.