UNF vs. MGRC, KAR, HCSG, CTAS, CPRT, IRM, VSTS, IEX, AMCR, and CCK
Should you be buying Unifirst stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Unifirst include McGrath RentCorp (MGRC), OPENLANE (KAR), Healthcare Services Group (HCSG), Cintas (CTAS), Copart (CPRT), Iron Mountain (IRM), Vestis (VSTS), IDEX (IEX), Amcor (AMCR), and Crown (CCK).
Unifirst vs. Its Competitors
McGrath RentCorp (NASDAQ:MGRC) and Unifirst (NYSE:UNF) are both mid-cap diversified support services companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, media sentiment, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability and valuation.
McGrath RentCorp has higher earnings, but lower revenue 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.
McGrath RentCorp has a net margin of 25.81% compared to Unifirst's net margin of 6.13%. McGrath RentCorp's return on equity of 13.57% beat Unifirst's return on equity.
McGrath RentCorp pays an annual dividend of $1.94 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Unifirst pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. McGrath RentCorp pays out 20.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Unifirst pays out 17.4% 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. McGrath RentCorp has increased its dividend for 33 consecutive years and Unifirst has increased its dividend for 7 consecutive years. McGrath RentCorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
In the previous week, Unifirst had 4 more articles in the media than McGrath RentCorp. MarketBeat recorded 9 mentions for Unifirst and 5 mentions for McGrath RentCorp. McGrath RentCorp's average media sentiment score of 1.04 beat Unifirst's score of 0.06 indicating that McGrath RentCorp is being referred to more favorably in the media.
McGrath RentCorp has a beta of 0.66, suggesting that its share price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Unifirst has a beta of 0.87, suggesting that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500.
92.1% of McGrath RentCorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.2% of Unifirst shares are held by institutional investors. 1.4% of McGrath RentCorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Unifirst shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
McGrath RentCorp currently has a consensus price target of $145.50, suggesting a potential upside of 25.47%. Unifirst has a consensus price target of $181.67, suggesting a potential downside of 3.39%. Given McGrath RentCorp's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe McGrath RentCorp is more favorable than Unifirst.
Summary
McGrath RentCorp beats Unifirst on 14 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding UNF and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Skip ChartMedia Sentiment Over Time
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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Unifirst Competitors List
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This page (NYSE:UNF) was last updated on 7/1/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff