NSC vs. UNP, CNI, GE, UPS, CP, CSX, FDX, ODFL, DAL, and WAB
Should you be buying Norfolk Southern stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Norfolk Southern include Union Pacific (UNP), Canadian National Railway (CNI), General Electric (GE), United Parcel Service (UPS), Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP), CSX (CSX), FedEx (FDX), Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL), Delta Air Lines (DAL), and Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies (WAB). These companies are all part of the "transportation" sector.
Union Pacific (NYSE:UNP) and Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) are both large-cap transportation companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their community ranking, earnings, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, dividends and profitability.
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 received 434 more outperform votes than Norfolk Southern when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 70.21% of users gave Union Pacific an outperform vote while only 57.47% of users gave Norfolk Southern an outperform vote.
80.4% of Union Pacific shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.1% of Norfolk Southern shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Union Pacific shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Norfolk Southern shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Union Pacific has a beta of 1.06, indicating that its share price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Norfolk Southern has a beta of 1.3, indicating that its share price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500.
In the previous week, Norfolk Southern had 3 more articles in the media than Union Pacific. MarketBeat recorded 18 mentions for Norfolk Southern and 15 mentions for Union Pacific. Norfolk Southern's average media sentiment score of 0.72 beat Union Pacific's score of 0.53 indicating that Union Pacific is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Union Pacific has a net margin of 26.52% compared to Union Pacific's net margin of 11.76%. Norfolk Southern's return on equity of 44.34% beat Union Pacific's return on equity.
Union Pacific presently has a consensus target price of $259.61, indicating a potential upside of 11.39%. Norfolk Southern has a consensus target price of $261.78, indicating a potential upside of 16.64%. Given Union Pacific's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Norfolk Southern is more favorable than Union Pacific.
Union Pacific pays an annual dividend of $5.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Norfolk Southern pays an annual dividend of $5.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Union Pacific pays out 49.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Norfolk Southern pays out 87.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Union Pacific has increased its dividend for 17 consecutive years and Norfolk Southern has increased its dividend for 7 consecutive years.
Summary
Union Pacific beats Norfolk Southern on 16 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.
Get Norfolk Southern News Delivered to You Automatically
Sign up to receive the latest news and ratings for NSC and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter.
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding NSC 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.
Norfolk Southern Competitors List
Related Companies and Tools
