Head-To-Head Comparison: U-Haul (NASDAQ:UHAL) versus McGrath RentCorp (NASDAQ:MGRC)

U-Haul (NASDAQ:UHAL) and McGrath RentCorp (NASDAQ:MGRC) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, dividends, profitability, earnings and institutional ownership.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

3.6% of U-Haul shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.1% of McGrath RentCorp shares are held by institutional investors. 50.1% of U-Haul shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of McGrath RentCorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

U-Haul has a beta of 1.1, indicating that its stock price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, McGrath RentCorp has a beta of 0.77, indicating that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares U-Haul and McGrath RentCorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
U-Haul	11.01%	8.77%	3.32%
McGrath RentCorp	13.39%	13.33%	5.58%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares U-Haul and McGrath RentCorp’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
U-Haul	$5.63 billion	2.39	$628.71 million	$3.04	22.59
McGrath RentCorp	$865.53 million	2.99	$174.62 million	$5.13	20.54

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for U-Haul and McGrath RentCorp, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
U-Haul	0	0	0	0	N/A
McGrath RentCorp	0	0	1	0	3.00

McGrath RentCorp has a consensus target price of $116.00, indicating a potential upside of 10.07%. Given McGrath RentCorp’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe McGrath RentCorp is more favorable than U-Haul.

Summary

McGrath RentCorp beats U-Haul on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About U-Haul

U-Haul Holding Company 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, flat screen television, 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 2,300 company operated retail moving stores and 21,000 independent U-Haul dealers. It also has a rental fleet of approximately 188,700 trucks, 139,400 trailers, and 43,700 towing devices; and 1,962 self-storage locations with approximately 1,004,000 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. Its 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. The company was formerly known as AMERCO. The company was founded in 1945 and is based in Reno, Nevada.

About McGrath RentCorp

McGrath RentCorp operates as a business to business rental company in the United States and internationally. It rents and sells relocatable modular buildings, portable storage containers, and electronic test equipment. The company operates through four segments: Mobile Modular, Portable Storage, TRS-RenTelco, and Enviroplex. The Mobile Modular segment rents and sells modular buildings designed for use as classrooms, temporary offices adjacent to existing facilities, sales offices, construction field offices, restroom buildings, health care clinics, child care facilities, office spaces, and various other purposes. The TRS-RenTelco segment rents and sells general purpose electronic test equipment, such as oscilloscopes, amplifiers, analyzers, signal source, and power source test equipment primarily to aerospace, defense, electronics, industrial, research, and semiconductor industries. It also provides communications test equipment, including network and transmission test equipment for various fiber, copper, and wireless networks to the manufacturers of communications equipment and products, electrical and communications installation contractors, field technicians, and service providers. The Portable Storage segment offers steel containers to provide a temporary storage solution. The Enviroplex segment manufactures and sells portable classrooms directly to public school districts and other educational institutions in California. The company was incorporated in 1979 and is based in Livermore, California.