UniFirst (UNF) Competitors

UniFirst (NYSE:UNF) and McGrath RentCorp (NASDAQ:MGRC) are both mid-cap industrials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, community ranking, earnings, valuation, risk and media sentiment.

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, UNF or MGRC?

McGrath RentCorp has lower revenue, but higher earnings than UniFirst. McGrath RentCorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than UniFirst, 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
UniFirst	$2.45B	1.40	$145.47M	$8.04	22.95
McGrath RentCorp	$918.53M	3.07	$174.62M	$9.65	11.87

Does the MarketBeat Community favor UNF or MGRC?

McGrath RentCorp received 21 more outperform votes than UniFirst when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 58.11% of users gave McGrath RentCorp an outperform vote while only 52.55% of users gave UniFirst an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
UniFirst	Outperform Votes 237 52.55%	Underperform Votes 214 47.45%
McGrath RentCorp	Outperform Votes 258 58.11%	Underperform Votes 186 41.89%

Is UNF or MGRC a better dividend stock?

UniFirst pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. McGrath RentCorp pays an annual dividend of $1.94 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. UniFirst pays out 17.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. McGrath RentCorp pays out 20.1% 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. UniFirst has raised its dividend for 7 consecutive years and McGrath RentCorp has raised its dividend for 33 consecutive years. McGrath RentCorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the media refer more to UNF or MGRC?

In the previous week, McGrath RentCorp had 2 more articles in the media than UniFirst. MarketBeat recorded 12 mentions for McGrath RentCorp and 10 mentions for UniFirst. McGrath RentCorp's average media sentiment score of 1.53 beat UniFirst's score of 1.15 indicating that McGrath RentCorp is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
UniFirst	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
McGrath RentCorp	11 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Do insiders and institutionals believe in UNF or MGRC?

78.2% of UniFirst shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.1% of McGrath RentCorp shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of UniFirst shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of McGrath RentCorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is UNF or MGRC more profitable?

McGrath RentCorp has a net margin of 25.44% compared to UniFirst's net margin of 6.00%. McGrath RentCorp's return on equity of 13.68% beat UniFirst's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
UniFirst	6.00%	7.40%	5.80%
McGrath RentCorp	25.44%	13.68%	6.16%

Do analysts prefer UNF or MGRC?

UniFirst currently has a consensus target price of $180.00, indicating a potential downside of 2.45%. McGrath RentCorp has a consensus target price of $145.50, indicating a potential upside of 27.02%. Given McGrath RentCorp's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe McGrath RentCorp is more favorable than UniFirst.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
UniFirst	2 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.50
McGrath RentCorp	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Which has more risk and volatility, UNF or MGRC?

UniFirst has a beta of 0.87, suggesting that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, McGrath RentCorp has a beta of 0.66, suggesting that its share price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

McGrath RentCorp beats UniFirst on 17 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.