URI vs. GWW, FAST, WSO, WCC, AIT, BECN, AL, MSM, GATX, and RUSHA
Should you be buying United Rentals stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of United Rentals include W.W. Grainger (GWW), Fastenal (FAST), Watsco (WSO), WESCO International (WCC), Applied Industrial Technologies (AIT), Beacon Roofing Supply (BECN), Air Lease (AL), MSC Industrial Direct (MSM), GATX (GATX), and Rush Enterprises (RUSHA). These companies are all part of the "trading companies & distributors" industry.
United Rentals (NYSE:URI) and W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) are both large-cap construction companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, media sentiment, community ranking, analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, valuation, earnings and institutional ownership.
United Rentals has a beta of 1.82, indicating that its share price is 82% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, W.W. Grainger has a beta of 1.18, indicating that its share price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500.
United Rentals currently has a consensus target price of $600.79, indicating a potential downside of 10.25%. W.W. Grainger has a consensus target price of $959.44, indicating a potential upside of 4.12%. Given W.W. Grainger's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe W.W. Grainger is more favorable than United Rentals.
In the previous week, W.W. Grainger had 8 more articles in the media than United Rentals. MarketBeat recorded 16 mentions for W.W. Grainger and 8 mentions for United Rentals. United Rentals' average media sentiment score of 1.12 beat W.W. Grainger's score of 0.32 indicating that United Rentals is being referred to more favorably in the media.
United Rentals has higher earnings, but lower revenue than W.W. Grainger. United Rentals is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than W.W. Grainger, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
96.3% of United Rentals shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.7% of W.W. Grainger shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of United Rentals shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.5% of W.W. Grainger shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
United Rentals has a net margin of 17.31% compared to W.W. Grainger's net margin of 10.94%. W.W. Grainger's return on equity of 54.31% beat United Rentals' return on equity.
United Rentals pays an annual dividend of $6.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. W.W. Grainger pays an annual dividend of $8.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. United Rentals pays out 17.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. W.W. Grainger pays out 22.6% 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. United Rentals is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
United Rentals received 201 more outperform votes than W.W. Grainger when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 64.53% of users gave United Rentals an outperform vote while only 54.03% of users gave W.W. Grainger an outperform vote.
Summary
United Rentals beats W.W. Grainger on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding URI 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.
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