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 compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability and earnings.

Is KAR or UNF a better dividend stock?

OPENLANE pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Unifirst pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. OPENLANE pays out 115.2% 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 raised its dividend for 7 consecutive years.

Does the media favor KAR or UNF?

In the previous week, Unifirst had 4 more articles in the media than OPENLANE. MarketBeat recorded 9 mentions for Unifirst and 5 mentions for OPENLANE. Unifirst's average media sentiment score of 0.91 beat OPENLANE's score of 0.74 indicating that Unifirst is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
OPENLANE	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Unifirst	4 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts rate KAR or UNF?

OPENLANE currently has a consensus target price of $24.00, indicating a potential downside of 4.44%. Unifirst has a consensus target price of $179.50, indicating a potential upside of 0.59%. 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

Which has better earnings and 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	$1.82B	1.48	$109.90M	$0.66	38.05
Unifirst	$2.43B	1.37	$145.47M	$8.14	21.92

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership 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. 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 endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

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 more risk and volatility, KAR or UNF?

OPENLANE has a beta of 1.41, meaning that its stock price is 41% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Unifirst has a beta of 0.86, meaning that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

OPENLANE beats Unifirst on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.