Head-To-Head Survey: Universal Logistics (NASDAQ:ULH) & RXO (NYSE:RXO)

Universal Logistics (NASDAQ:ULH) and RXO (NYSE:RXO) are both transportation companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, risk, profitability, dividends, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Universal Logistics and RXO”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Universal Logistics	$1.85 billion	0.23	$129.91 million	($1.52)	-10.49
RXO	$4.55 billion	0.52	-$290.00 million	($0.43)	-33.71

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

Volatility and Risk

Universal Logistics has a beta of 0.92, indicating that its share price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, RXO has a beta of 1.74, indicating that its share price is 74% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Universal Logistics and RXO, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Universal Logistics	1	2	0	0	1.67
RXO	4	11	4	0	2.00

Universal Logistics presently has a consensus price target of $17.00, indicating a potential upside of 6.58%. RXO has a consensus price target of $16.14, indicating a potential upside of 11.37%. Given RXO’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe RXO is more favorable than Universal Logistics.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

25.5% of Universal Logistics shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.7% of RXO shares are owned by institutional investors. 73.6% of Universal Logistics shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of RXO shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Universal Logistics and RXO’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Universal Logistics	-2.46%	6.49%	2.26%
RXO	-1.25%	0.88%	0.43%

Summary

RXO beats Universal Logistics on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Universal Logistics

Universal Logistics Holdings, Inc. provides transportation and logistics solutions in the United States, Mexico, Canada, and Colombia. The company offers truckload services, which include dry van, flatbed, heavy-haul, and refrigerated operations; domestic and international freight forwarding, and customs brokerage services. It transports various commodities comprising automotive parts, machinery, building materials, paper, food, consumer goods, furniture, steel, and other metals. The company also provides value-added services for individual customer requirements, including material handling, consolidation, sequencing, sub-assembly, cross-dock, kitting, repacking, warehousing, and returnable container management; and intermodal support services comprising short-to-medium distance delivery of steamship and rail truck containers between the port or railhead, and the customer. It serves automotive, steel, and other metals, retail and consumer goods, energy, and manufacturing industries, as well as other transportation companies who aggregate loads from various shippers. The company was formerly known as Universal Truckload Services, Inc. and changed its name to Universal Logistics Holdings, Inc. in April 2016. Universal Logistics Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1932 and is headquartered in Warren, Michigan.

About RXO

RXO, Inc. provides full truckload freight transportation brokering services. It also offers brokered services for managed transportation, last mile, and freight forwarding. The company was incorporated in 2022 and is based in Charlotte, North Carolina.