Critical Review: Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte (NASDAQ:OMAB) and PowerFleet (NASDAQ:AIOT)

Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte (NASDAQ:OMAB) and PowerFleet (NASDAQ:AIOT) are both transportation companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, earnings and risk.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

9.5% of Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 73.4% of PowerFleet shares are held by institutional investors. 6.3% of PowerFleet shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte has a beta of 0.74, indicating that its share price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, PowerFleet has a beta of 1.37, indicating that its share price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte and PowerFleet’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte	33.46%	54.36%	18.90%
PowerFleet	-7.00%	-5.23%	-2.61%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte and PowerFleet, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte	1	4	1	0	2.00
PowerFleet	0	2	4	0	2.67

Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte currently has a consensus target price of $106.00, suggesting a potential downside of 0.30%. PowerFleet has a consensus target price of $10.33, suggesting a potential upside of 235.50%. Given PowerFleet’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe PowerFleet is more favorable than Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte and PowerFleet”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte	$832.66 million	5.43	$277.99 million	$5.87	18.11
PowerFleet	$362.52 million	1.14	-$50.99 million	($0.23)	-13.39

Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte has higher revenue and earnings than PowerFleet. PowerFleet is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte beats PowerFleet on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte

Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte, S.A.B. de C.V., together with its subsidiaries, holds concessions to develop, operate, and maintain airports in Mexico. The company operates 13 international airports in Monterrey, Acapulco, Mazatlán, Zihuatanejo, Ciudad Juárez, Reynosa, Chihuahua, Culiacán, Durango, San Luis Potosí, Tampico, Torreón, and Zacatecas cities. It also operates the NH Collection Hotel in Terminal 2 of the Mexico City International Airport, and a hotel under the Hilton Garden Inn name at the Monterrey International Airport. In addition, the company provides aeronautical services, which include passenger, aircraft landing and parking, boarding and unloading, passenger walkway, and airport security services. Further, it offers complementary services that comprise leasing of space to airlines, cargo handling, baggage-screening, permanent and non-permanent ground transportation, and access rights services; non-aeronautical services, such as leasing of space at its airports to retailers, restaurants, and other commercial tenants, as well as maintaining of parking facilities and advertising; and diversification services, which consists of operation and lease of the industrial park and real estate services, as well as hotel and air cargo logistics services. Additionally, the company provides construction services. It has a strategic alliance with VYNMSA Desarrollo Inmobiliario, S.A. de C.V. to build and operate an industrial park at the Monterrey airport. The company was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico.

About PowerFleet

PowerFleet, Inc. engages in the provision of fleet management solutions for logistics, industrial, and vehicles. It offers wireless Internet of Things and machine to machine solutions for securing, controlling, tracking, and managing enterprise assets such as industrial trucks, tractor trailers, containers, cargo, and vehicle and truck fleets. It operates through the following geographical segments: United States, Israel, and Other. The company was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Woodcliff Lake, NJ.