McGrath RentCorp (MGRC) Competitors

McGrath RentCorp (NASDAQ:MGRC) and UniFirst (NYSE:UNF) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, dividends, community ranking, institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk and media sentiment.

Is MGRC or UNF more profitable?

McGrath RentCorp has a net margin of 25.29% compared to UniFirst's net margin of 6.00%. McGrath RentCorp's return on equity of 13.64% beat UniFirst's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
McGrath RentCorp	25.29%	13.64%	5.89%
UniFirst	6.00%	7.40%	5.80%

Does the media refer more to MGRC or UNF?

In the previous week, UniFirst had 3 more articles in the media than McGrath RentCorp. MarketBeat recorded 14 mentions for UniFirst and 11 mentions for McGrath RentCorp. McGrath RentCorp's average media sentiment score of 0.41 beat UniFirst's score of 0.37 indicating that McGrath RentCorp is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
McGrath RentCorp	0 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	9 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
UniFirst	2 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is MGRC or UNF a better dividend stock?

McGrath RentCorp pays an annual dividend of $1.90 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. UniFirst pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. McGrath RentCorp pays out 20.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. UniFirst pays out 17.9% 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. McGrath RentCorp has increased its dividend for 32 consecutive years. McGrath RentCorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do analysts rate MGRC or UNF?

McGrath RentCorp presently has a consensus target price of $145.50, indicating a potential upside of 23.01%. UniFirst has a consensus target price of $197.50, indicating a potential downside of 11.31%. Given McGrath RentCorp's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe McGrath RentCorp is more favorable than UniFirst.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
McGrath RentCorp	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
UniFirst	1 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.75

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer MGRC or UNF?

McGrath RentCorp received 19 more outperform votes than UniFirst when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 58.18% of users gave McGrath RentCorp an outperform vote while only 53.02% of users gave UniFirst an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
McGrath RentCorp	Outperform Votes 256 58.18%	Underperform Votes 184 41.82%
UniFirst	Outperform Votes 237 53.02%	Underperform Votes 210 46.98%

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, MGRC or UNF?

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

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
McGrath RentCorp	$831.84M	3.49	$174.62M	$9.15	12.93
UniFirst	$2.43B	1.70	$145.47M	$7.82	28.48

Do institutionals and insiders have more ownership in MGRC or UNF?

92.1% of McGrath RentCorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.2% of UniFirst shares are held by institutional investors. 1.6% of McGrath RentCorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of UniFirst shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more volatility & risk, MGRC or UNF?

McGrath RentCorp has a beta of 0.77, suggesting that its share price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, UniFirst has a beta of 0.87, suggesting that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

McGrath RentCorp beats UniFirst on 16 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.