Willis Lease Finance (WLFC) Competitors

Willis Lease Finance (NASDAQ:WLFC) and H&E Equipment Services (NASDAQ:HEES) are both transportation companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their media sentiment, community ranking, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, valuation, earnings, institutional ownership and dividends.

Which has more risk and volatility, WLFC or HEES?

Willis Lease Finance has a beta of 0.79, meaning that its stock price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, H&E Equipment Services has a beta of 1.74, meaning that its stock price is 74% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals and insiders believe in WLFC or HEES?

93.7% of Willis Lease Finance shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.1% of H&E Equipment Services shares are held by institutional investors. 57.0% of Willis Lease Finance shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 12.5% of H&E Equipment Services shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is WLFC or HEES more profitable?

Willis Lease Finance has a net margin of 18.56% compared to H&E Equipment Services' net margin of 9.47%. H&E Equipment Services' return on equity of 25.46% beat Willis Lease Finance's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Willis Lease Finance	18.56%	20.62%	3.49%
H&E Equipment Services	9.47%	25.46%	5.16%

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in WLFC or HEES?

H&E Equipment Services received 100 more outperform votes than Willis Lease Finance when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 62.78% of users gave Willis Lease Finance an outperform vote while only 56.57% of users gave H&E Equipment Services an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Willis Lease Finance	Outperform Votes 167 62.78%	Underperform Votes 99 37.22%
H&E Equipment Services	Outperform Votes 267 56.57%	Underperform Votes 205 43.43%

Is WLFC or HEES a better dividend stock?

Willis Lease Finance pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. H&E Equipment Services pays an annual dividend of $1.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Willis Lease Finance pays out 6.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. H&E Equipment Services pays out 32.6% 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.

Do analysts prefer WLFC or HEES?

H&E Equipment Services has a consensus price target of $71.33, indicating a potential downside of 21.94%. Given H&E Equipment Services' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe H&E Equipment Services is more favorable than Willis Lease Finance.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Willis Lease Finance	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
H&E Equipment Services	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40

Which has better earnings and valuation, WLFC or HEES?

H&E Equipment Services has higher revenue and earnings than Willis Lease Finance. Willis Lease Finance is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than H&E Equipment Services, 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
Willis Lease Finance	$569.22M	1.62	$43.78M	$15.39	9.09
H&E Equipment Services	$1.52B	2.21	$169.29M	$3.37	27.12

Does the media refer more to WLFC or HEES?

In the previous week, H&E Equipment Services had 4 more articles in the media than Willis Lease Finance. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for H&E Equipment Services and 3 mentions for Willis Lease Finance. Willis Lease Finance's average media sentiment score of 1.70 beat H&E Equipment Services' score of 1.05 indicating that Willis Lease Finance is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Willis Lease Finance	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
H&E Equipment Services	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

H&E Equipment Services beats Willis Lease Finance on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.