OPENLANE (KAR) Competitors

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

Do analysts recommend KAR or UNF?

OPENLANE currently has a consensus target price of $24.00, indicating a potential downside of 0.74%. Unifirst has a consensus target price of $179.50, indicating a potential upside of 3.79%. Given Unifirst's higher possible upside, analysts clearly 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

Do institutionals & insiders believe in KAR or UNF?

99.8% of OPENLANE shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.2% of Unifirst shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.3% of OPENLANE shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Unifirst shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more volatility and risk, KAR or UNF?

OPENLANE has a beta of 1.4, meaning that its share price is 40% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Unifirst has a beta of 0.85, meaning that its share price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to KAR or UNF?

In the previous week, Unifirst had 4 more articles in the media than OPENLANE. MarketBeat recorded 8 mentions for Unifirst and 4 mentions for OPENLANE. OPENLANE's average media sentiment score of 0.90 beat Unifirst's score of 0.89 indicating that OPENLANE is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
OPENLANE	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Unifirst	3 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is KAR or UNF more profitable?

OPENLANE has a net margin of 7.15% compared to Unifirst's net margin of 6.18%. OPENLANE's return on equity of 10.38% beat Unifirst's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
OPENLANE	7.15%	10.38%	2.98%
Unifirst	6.18%	7.35%	5.78%

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, 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	$1.79B	1.45	$109.90M	$0.66	36.64
Unifirst	$2.43B	1.32	$145.47M	$8.14	21.25

Summary

OPENLANE beats Unifirst on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.