Norfolk Southern (NSC) Competitors

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) and Union Pacific (NYSE:UNP) are both large-cap transportation companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, dividends, earnings, profitability and community ranking.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in NSC or UNP?

Union Pacific received 440 more outperform votes than Norfolk Southern when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 70.26% of users gave Union Pacific an outperform vote while only 57.76% of users gave Norfolk Southern an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Norfolk Southern	Outperform Votes 826 57.76%	Underperform Votes 604 42.24%
Union Pacific	Outperform Votes 1266 70.26%	Underperform Votes 536 29.74%

Do analysts rate NSC or UNP?

Norfolk Southern currently has a consensus target price of $266.10, suggesting a potential upside of 19.94%. Union Pacific has a consensus target price of $257.86, suggesting a potential upside of 20.50%. Given Union Pacific's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Union Pacific is more favorable than Norfolk Southern.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Norfolk Southern	1 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.55
Union Pacific	1 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	15 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.73

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of NSC or UNP?

75.1% of Norfolk Southern shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.4% of Union Pacific shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Norfolk Southern shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Union Pacific shares are held 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 more risk and volatility, NSC or UNP?

Norfolk Southern has a beta of 1.3, suggesting that its share price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Union Pacific has a beta of 1.06, suggesting that its share price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor NSC or UNP?

In the previous week, Union Pacific had 38 more articles in the media than Norfolk Southern. MarketBeat recorded 71 mentions for Union Pacific and 33 mentions for Norfolk Southern. Norfolk Southern's average media sentiment score of 1.00 beat Union Pacific's score of 0.58 indicating that Norfolk Southern is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Norfolk Southern	24 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Union Pacific	37 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	11 Neutral mention(s)	12 Negative mention(s)	5 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, NSC or UNP?

Union Pacific has higher revenue and earnings than Norfolk Southern. Norfolk Southern is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Union Pacific, 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
Norfolk Southern	$12.11B	4.13	$2.62B	$14.64	15.15
Union Pacific	$24.25B	5.27	$6.75B	$11.10	19.28

Is NSC or UNP a better dividend stock?

Norfolk Southern pays an annual dividend of $5.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Union Pacific pays an annual dividend of $5.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Norfolk Southern pays out 36.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Union Pacific pays out 48.3% 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. Union Pacific has raised its dividend for 18 consecutive years. Union Pacific is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Is NSC or UNP more profitable?

Union Pacific has a net margin of 27.82% compared to Norfolk Southern's net margin of 21.63%. Union Pacific's return on equity of 41.12% beat Norfolk Southern's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Norfolk Southern	21.63%	20.04%	6.26%
Union Pacific	27.82%	41.12%	9.98%

Summary

Union Pacific beats Norfolk Southern on 18 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.