Unifirst (UNF) Competitors

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

Which has stronger 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	$1.79B	1.73	$109.90M	$0.74	39.39
Unifirst	$2.43B	1.37	$145.47M	$8.14	22.00

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in KAR or UNF?

99.8% of OPENLANE shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.2% of Unifirst shares are held by institutional investors. 1.5% of OPENLANE shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Unifirst shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more risk and volatility, KAR or UNF?

OPENLANE has a beta of 1.38, indicating that its stock price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Unifirst has a beta of 0.86, indicating that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

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

Do analysts rate KAR or UNF?

OPENLANE presently has a consensus price target of $26.50, suggesting a potential downside of 9.08%. Unifirst has a consensus price target of $179.50, suggesting a potential upside of 0.21%. Given Unifirst's higher probable 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

Does the media prefer KAR or UNF?

In the previous week, Unifirst had 2 more articles in the media than OPENLANE. MarketBeat recorded 8 mentions for Unifirst and 6 mentions for OPENLANE. Unifirst's average media sentiment score of 1.42 beat OPENLANE's score of 1.05 indicating that Unifirst is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
OPENLANE	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Unifirst	7 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

OPENLANE beats Unifirst on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.