Unifirst (UNF) Competitors

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

Which has more risk & volatility, UNF or KAR?

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

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

78.2% of Unifirst shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.8% of OPENLANE shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Unifirst shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of OPENLANE shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media prefer UNF or KAR?

In the previous week, OPENLANE had 15 more articles in the media than Unifirst. MarketBeat recorded 21 mentions for OPENLANE and 6 mentions for Unifirst. Unifirst's average media sentiment score of 0.90 beat OPENLANE's score of 0.61 indicating that Unifirst is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Unifirst	3 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
OPENLANE	8 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts prefer UNF or KAR?

Unifirst presently has a consensus price target of $179.50, suggesting a potential upside of 1.12%. OPENLANE has a consensus price target of $26.50, suggesting a potential downside of 8.21%. Given Unifirst's higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Unifirst is more favorable than OPENLANE.

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
OPENLANE	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Is UNF or KAR 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
Unifirst	6.18%	7.35%	5.78%
OPENLANE	8.18%	11.65%	3.40%

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, UNF or KAR?

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
Unifirst	$2.43B	1.36	$145.47M	$8.14	21.81
OPENLANE	$1.79B	1.72	$109.90M	$0.74	39.01

Summary

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