UNP vs. NSC, CP, CNI, CSX, FIP, UPS, FDX, WAB, ODFL, and DAL
Should you be buying Union Pacific stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Union Pacific include Norfolk Southern (NSC), Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP), Canadian National Railway (CNI), CSX (CSX), FTAI Infrastructure (FIP), United Parcel Service (UPS), FedEx (FDX), Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies (WAB), Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL), and Delta Air Lines (DAL).
Union Pacific vs. Its Competitors
Union Pacific (NYSE:UNP) and Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) are both large-cap transportation companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their community ranking, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, media sentiment and valuation.
80.4% of Union Pacific shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.1% of Norfolk Southern shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Union Pacific shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Norfolk Southern shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Union Pacific has a beta of 1.05, indicating that its share price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Norfolk Southern has a beta of 1.32, indicating that its share price is 32% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Union Pacific currently has a consensus target price of $257.74, indicating a potential upside of 14.19%. Norfolk Southern has a consensus target price of $267.24, indicating a potential upside of 6.31%. Given Union Pacific's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Union Pacific is more favorable than Norfolk Southern.
Union Pacific received 440 more outperform votes than Norfolk Southern when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 70.25% of users gave Union Pacific an outperform vote while only 57.78% of users gave Norfolk Southern an outperform vote.
Union Pacific pays an annual dividend of $5.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Norfolk Southern pays an annual dividend of $5.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Union Pacific pays out 48.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Norfolk Southern pays out 36.9% 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. Union Pacific is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
In the previous week, Union Pacific had 28 more articles in the media than Norfolk Southern. MarketBeat recorded 43 mentions for Union Pacific and 15 mentions for Norfolk Southern. Union Pacific's average media sentiment score of 0.96 beat Norfolk Southern's score of 0.93 indicating that Union Pacific is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Union Pacific has a net margin of 27.82% compared to Norfolk Southern's net margin of 21.63%. Union Pacific's return on equity of 41.12% beat Norfolk Southern's return on equity.
Union Pacific has higher revenue and earnings than Norfolk Southern. Norfolk Southern 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 Norfolk Southern on 18 of the 22 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 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
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This page (NYSE:UNP) was last updated on 6/12/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
