McGrath RentCorp (MGRC) Competitors

Unifirst (NYSE:UNF) and McGrath RentCorp (NASDAQ:MGRC) are both mid-cap diversified support services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, media sentiment, dividends, profitability, valuation, earnings, risk and institutional ownership.

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of UNF or MGRC?

78.2% of Unifirst shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.1% of McGrath RentCorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Unifirst shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of McGrath RentCorp shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more volatility & risk, UNF or MGRC?

Unifirst has a beta of 0.86, suggesting that its share price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, McGrath RentCorp has a beta of 0.61, suggesting that its share price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts recommend UNF or MGRC?

Unifirst presently has a consensus price target of $179.50, indicating a potential upside of 2.07%. McGrath RentCorp has a consensus price target of $145.50, indicating a potential upside of 20.04%. Given McGrath RentCorp's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe McGrath RentCorp is more favorable than Unifirst.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Unifirst	2 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.50
McGrath RentCorp	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Is UNF or MGRC a better dividend stock?

Unifirst pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. McGrath RentCorp pays an annual dividend of $1.94 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Unifirst pays out 17.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. McGrath RentCorp pays out 18.9% 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. Unifirst has raised its dividend for 7 consecutive years and McGrath RentCorp has raised its dividend for 33 consecutive years. McGrath RentCorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the media refer more to UNF or MGRC?

In the previous week, Unifirst had 1 more articles in the media than McGrath RentCorp. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for Unifirst and 9 mentions for McGrath RentCorp. McGrath RentCorp's average media sentiment score of 1.65 beat Unifirst's score of 1.47 indicating that McGrath RentCorp is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Unifirst	9 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
McGrath RentCorp	9 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Is UNF or MGRC more profitable?

McGrath RentCorp has a net margin of 26.81% compared to Unifirst's net margin of 6.18%. McGrath RentCorp's return on equity of 13.52% beat Unifirst's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Unifirst	6.18%	7.35%	5.78%
McGrath RentCorp	26.81%	13.52%	6.69%

Which has better earnings and valuation, UNF or MGRC?

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

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Unifirst	$2.43B	1.34	$145.47M	$8.14	21.60
McGrath RentCorp	$910.94M	3.27	$231.73M	$10.27	11.80

Summary

McGrath RentCorp beats Unifirst on 14 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.