Universal Logistics (ULH) Competitors

Universal Logistics (NASDAQ:ULH) and Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) are both small-cap transportation companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, profitability, media sentiment, dividends, community ranking, analyst recommendations, risk and institutional ownership.

Do analysts recommend ULH or HTLD?

Universal Logistics currently has a consensus target price of $46.00, indicating a potential upside of 7.68%. Heartland Express has a consensus target price of $12.00, indicating a potential downside of 2.44%. Given Universal Logistics' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Universal Logistics is more favorable than Heartland Express.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Universal Logistics	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Heartland Express	2 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.50

Is ULH or HTLD more profitable?

Universal Logistics has a net margin of 7.23% compared to Heartland Express' net margin of -2.17%. Universal Logistics' return on equity of 22.84% beat Heartland Express' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Universal Logistics	7.23%	22.84%	9.51%
Heartland Express	-2.17%	-2.84%	-1.63%

Does the media prefer ULH or HTLD?

In the previous week, Heartland Express had 2 more articles in the media than Universal Logistics. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Heartland Express and 5 mentions for Universal Logistics. Heartland Express' average media sentiment score of 1.27 beat Universal Logistics' score of 1.26 indicating that Heartland Express is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Universal Logistics	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Heartland Express	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in ULH or HTLD?

Heartland Express received 82 more outperform votes than Universal Logistics when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 59.47% of users gave Universal Logistics an outperform vote while only 48.75% of users gave Heartland Express an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Universal Logistics	Outperform Votes 270 59.47%	Underperform Votes 184 40.53%
Heartland Express	Outperform Votes 352 48.75%	Underperform Votes 370 51.25%

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of ULH or HTLD?

25.5% of Universal Logistics shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 53.5% of Heartland Express shares are owned by institutional investors. 73.4% of Universal Logistics shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 39.6% of Heartland Express shares are owned by 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.

Which has higher earnings & valuation, ULH or HTLD?

Universal Logistics has higher revenue and earnings than Heartland Express. Heartland Express is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Universal Logistics, 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
Universal Logistics	$1.66B	0.68	$92.90M	$4.58	9.33
Heartland Express	$1.12B	0.87	$14.77M	-$0.17	-72.35

Is ULH or HTLD a better dividend stock?

Universal Logistics pays an annual dividend of $0.42 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Heartland Express pays an annual dividend of $0.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Universal Logistics pays out 9.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Heartland Express pays out -47.1% 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.

Which has more volatility and risk, ULH or HTLD?

Universal Logistics has a beta of 0.83, meaning that its stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Heartland Express has a beta of 0.69, meaning that its stock price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Universal Logistics beats Heartland Express on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.