Marten Transport (MRTN) Competitors

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) and Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) are both small-cap transportation companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, institutional ownership and valuation.

Is HTLD or MRTN a better dividend stock?

Heartland Express pays an annual dividend of $0.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Marten Transport pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Heartland Express pays out -22.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Marten Transport pays out 88.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Which has more risk and volatility, HTLD or MRTN?

Heartland Express has a beta of 1.05, indicating that its stock price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Marten Transport has a beta of 0.99, indicating that its stock price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts recommend HTLD or MRTN?

Heartland Express currently has a consensus target price of $9.75, suggesting a potential upside of 12.59%. Marten Transport has a consensus target price of $19.00, suggesting a potential upside of 44.49%. Given Marten Transport's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Marten Transport is more favorable than Heartland Express.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Heartland Express	2 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.60
Marten Transport	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Does the media favor HTLD or MRTN?

In the previous week, Marten Transport had 3 more articles in the media than Heartland Express. MarketBeat recorded 9 mentions for Marten Transport and 6 mentions for Heartland Express. Marten Transport's average media sentiment score of 0.72 beat Heartland Express' score of 0.42 indicating that Marten Transport is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Heartland Express	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Marten Transport	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, HTLD or MRTN?

Marten Transport has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Heartland Express. Heartland Express is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Marten Transport, 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
Heartland Express	$1.05B	0.65	-$29.72M	-$0.36	-24.06
Marten Transport	$963.71M	1.11	$26.92M	$0.27	48.70

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of HTLD or MRTN?

53.5% of Heartland Express shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 69.1% of Marten Transport shares are owned by institutional investors. 40.7% of Heartland Express shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 22.9% of Marten Transport shares are owned 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.

Is HTLD or MRTN more profitable?

Marten Transport has a net margin of 2.31% compared to Heartland Express' net margin of -2.86%. Marten Transport's return on equity of 2.82% beat Heartland Express' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Heartland Express	-2.86%	-3.46%	-2.09%
Marten Transport	2.31%	2.82%	2.18%

Summary

Marten Transport beats Heartland Express on 14 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.