OPENLANE (KAR) Competitors

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

Which has better earnings & valuation, KAR or UNF?

Unifirst has higher revenue and earnings than OPENLANE. Unifirst is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than OPENLANE, 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
OPENLANE	$1.86B	1.66	$109.90M	$0.74	39.26
Unifirst	$2.43B	1.29	$145.47M	$8.14	20.68

Is KAR or UNF a better dividend stock?

OPENLANE pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Unifirst pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. OPENLANE pays out 102.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Unifirst pays out 17.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Unifirst has increased its dividend for 7 consecutive years.

Is KAR or UNF more profitable?

OPENLANE has a net margin of 8.18% compared to Unifirst's net margin of 6.18%. OPENLANE's return on equity of 11.65% beat Unifirst's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
OPENLANE	8.18%	11.65%	3.40%
Unifirst	6.18%	7.35%	5.78%

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

99.8% of OPENLANE shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.2% of Unifirst shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.5% of OPENLANE shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Unifirst shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more volatility and risk, KAR or UNF?

OPENLANE has a beta of 1.38, indicating that its stock price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Unifirst has a beta of 0.86, indicating that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts prefer KAR or UNF?

OPENLANE presently has a consensus price target of $28.75, indicating a potential downside of 1.03%. Unifirst has a consensus price target of $179.50, indicating a potential upside of 6.65%. Given Unifirst's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Unifirst is more favorable than OPENLANE.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
OPENLANE	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Unifirst	2 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.50

Does the media refer more to KAR or UNF?

In the previous week, OPENLANE had 4 more articles in the media than Unifirst. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for OPENLANE and 3 mentions for Unifirst. OPENLANE's average media sentiment score of 1.71 beat Unifirst's score of 1.29 indicating that OPENLANE is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
OPENLANE	7 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Unifirst	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

OPENLANE beats Unifirst on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.