UNP vs. NSC, CNI, CP, CSX, UPS, GE, FDX, ODFL, RYAAY, 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 National Railway (CNI), Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP), CSX (CSX), United Parcel Service (UPS), General Electric (GE), FedEx (FDX), Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL), Ryanair (RYAAY), and Delta Air Lines (DAL). These companies are all part of the "transportation" sector.
Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) and Union Pacific (NYSE:UNP) are both large-cap transportation companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, community ranking, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, media sentiment, earnings and analyst recommendations.
Norfolk Southern pays an annual dividend of $5.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Union Pacific pays an annual dividend of $5.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Norfolk Southern pays out 67.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Union Pacific pays out 49.7% 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. Norfolk Southern has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years. Norfolk Southern is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
In the previous week, Norfolk Southern had 8 more articles in the media than Union Pacific. MarketBeat recorded 24 mentions for Norfolk Southern and 16 mentions for Union Pacific. Norfolk Southern's average media sentiment score of 0.68 beat Union Pacific's score of 0.29 indicating that Union Pacific is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Union Pacific has higher revenue and earnings than Norfolk Southern. Union Pacific is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Norfolk Southern, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Union Pacific has a net margin of 26.45% compared to Union Pacific's net margin of 15.03%. Norfolk Southern's return on equity of 46.87% beat Union Pacific's return on equity.
75.1% of Norfolk Southern shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.4% of Union Pacific shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Norfolk Southern shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Union Pacific shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Norfolk Southern has a beta of 1.3, meaning that its share price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Union Pacific has a beta of 1.07, meaning that its share price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Norfolk Southern presently has a consensus price target of $262.74, suggesting a potential upside of 7.23%. Union Pacific has a consensus price target of $255.00, suggesting a potential upside of 7.92%. Given Norfolk Southern's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Union Pacific is more favorable than Norfolk Southern.
Union Pacific received 433 more outperform votes than Norfolk Southern when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 70.20% of users gave Union Pacific an outperform vote while only 57.34% of users gave Norfolk Southern an outperform vote.
Summary
Union Pacific beats Norfolk Southern on 16 of the 22 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.
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.
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
