Critical Survey: ZTO Express (Cayman) (NYSE:ZTO) vs. U-Haul (NYSE:UHAL)

ZTO Express (Cayman) (NYSE:ZTO) and U-Haul (NYSE:UHAL) are both transportation companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk and institutional ownership.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares ZTO Express (Cayman) and U-Haul”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ZTO Express (Cayman)	$7.02 billion	1.91	$1.30 billion	$1.58	15.03
U-Haul	$5.83 billion	1.64	$367.09 million	$0.48	101.58

ZTO Express (Cayman) has higher revenue and earnings than U-Haul. ZTO Express (Cayman) is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than U-Haul, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

41.7% of ZTO Express (Cayman) shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 3.6% of U-Haul shares are owned by institutional investors. 41.3% of ZTO Express (Cayman) shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 43.6% of U-Haul shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for ZTO Express (Cayman) and U-Haul, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ZTO Express (Cayman)	0	1	3	2	3.17
U-Haul	1	1	0	1	2.33

ZTO Express (Cayman) presently has a consensus target price of $24.45, indicating a potential upside of 2.96%. U-Haul has a consensus target price of $80.00, indicating a potential upside of 64.08%. Given U-Haul’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe U-Haul is more favorable than ZTO Express (Cayman).

Volatility & Risk

ZTO Express (Cayman) has a beta of -0.18, suggesting that its share price is 118% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, U-Haul has a beta of 1.11, suggesting that its share price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares ZTO Express (Cayman) and U-Haul’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ZTO Express (Cayman)	18.50%	14.05%	9.90%
U-Haul	2.14%	1.64%	0.61%

Summary

ZTO Express (Cayman) beats U-Haul on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ZTO Express (Cayman)

ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. provides express delivery and other value-added logistics services in the People's Republic of China. It offers freight forwarding services; and delivery services for e-commerce and traditional merchants, and other express service users. The company was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Shanghai, the People's Republic of China.

About U-Haul

AMERCO operates as a do-it-yourself moving and storage operator for household and commercial goods in the United States and Canada. The company’s Moving and Storage segment rents trucks, trailers, portable moving and storage units, specialty rental items, and self-storage spaces primarily to the household movers; and sells moving supplies, towing accessories, and propane. It also provides uhaul.com, an online marketplace that connects consumers to independent Moving Help service providers and independent self-storage affiliates; auto transport and tow dolly options to transport vehicles; and specialty boxes for dishes, computers, and sensitive electronic equipment, as well as tapes, security locks, and packing supplies. This segment rents its products and services through a network of approximately 2,065 company operated retail moving stores and 20,100 independent U-Haul dealers. As of March 31, 2020, it had a rental fleet of approximately 176,000 trucks, 127,000 trailers, and 41,000 towing devices; and 1,745 self-storage locations with approximately 774,000 rentable storage units. The company’s Property and Casualty Insurance segment offers loss adjusting and claims handling services. It also provides moving and storage protection packages, such as Safemove and Safetow packages, which offer moving and towing customers with a damage waiver, cargo protection, and medical and life insurance coverage; Safestor that protects storage customers from loss on their goods in storage; Safestor Mobile, which protects customers stored belongings; and Safemove Plus, which provides rental customers with a layer of primary liability protection. The company’s Life Insurance segment provides life and health insurance products primarily to the senior market through the direct writing and reinsuring of life insurance, medicare supplement, and annuity policies. AMERCO was founded in 1945 and is based in Reno, Nevada.