UNP vs. AAL, CSX, JBHT, CNI, CP, NSC, UPS, RVSN, FDX, and DAL
Should you be buying Union Pacific stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Union Pacific include American Airlines Group (AAL), CSX (CSX), J.B. Hunt Transport Services (JBHT), Canadian National Railway (CNI), Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP), Norfolk Southern (NSC), United Parcel Service (UPS), Rail Vision (RVSN), FedEx (FDX), and Delta Air Lines (DAL). These companies are all part of the "transportation" sector.
Union Pacific vs. Its Competitors
American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) and Union Pacific (NYSE:UNP) are both transportation companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and risk.
American Airlines Group presently has a consensus target price of $16.82, indicating a potential upside of 31.49%. Union Pacific has a consensus target price of $258.21, indicating a potential upside of 14.22%. Given American Airlines Group's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe American Airlines Group is more favorable than Union Pacific.
American Airlines Group pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Union Pacific pays an annual dividend of $5.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. American Airlines Group pays out 50.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Union Pacific pays out 46.6% 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 increased its dividend for 18 consecutive years.
American Airlines Group has a beta of 1.43, suggesting that its share price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Union Pacific has a beta of 1.05, suggesting that its share price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500.
52.4% of American Airlines Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.4% of Union Pacific shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of American Airlines Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Union Pacific shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Union Pacific has a net margin of 28.43% compared to American Airlines Group's net margin of 1.05%. Union Pacific's return on equity of 41.73% beat American Airlines Group's return on equity.
In the previous week, Union Pacific had 45 more articles in the media than American Airlines Group. MarketBeat recorded 65 mentions for Union Pacific and 20 mentions for American Airlines Group. Union Pacific's average media sentiment score of 1.13 beat American Airlines Group's score of 1.04 indicating that Union Pacific is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Union Pacific has lower revenue, but higher earnings than American Airlines Group. American Airlines Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Union Pacific, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Union Pacific beats American Airlines Group on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
Get Union Pacific News Delivered to You Automatically
Sign up to receive the latest news and ratings for UNP and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter.
New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding UNP and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Media 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.
Union Pacific Competitors List
Related Companies and Tools
This page (NYSE:UNP) was last updated on 8/20/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
MarketBeat All Access