OPENLANE (KAR) Competitors

OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) and UniFirst (NYSE:UNF) are both mid-cap auto/tires/trucks companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, media sentiment, risk, community ranking, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and valuation.

Is KAR or UNF more profitable?

UniFirst has a net margin of 5.99% compared to OPENLANE's net margin of 4.26%. OPENLANE's return on equity of 8.67% beat UniFirst's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
OPENLANE	4.26%	8.67%	2.45%
UniFirst	5.99%	7.47%	5.85%

Do analysts rate KAR or UNF?

OPENLANE presently has a consensus price target of $20.20, suggesting a potential upside of 2.77%. UniFirst has a consensus price target of $186.25, suggesting a potential downside of 2.81%. Given OPENLANE's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe OPENLANE is more favorable than UniFirst.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
OPENLANE	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60
UniFirst	1 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.75

Which has better earnings and valuation, KAR or UNF?

UniFirst has higher revenue and earnings than OPENLANE. UniFirst is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than OPENLANE, 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
OPENLANE	$1.65B	1.28	-$154.10M	$0.26	75.60
UniFirst	$2.43B	1.47	$145.47M	$7.77	24.66

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer KAR or UNF?

OPENLANE received 410 more outperform votes than UniFirst when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 71.24% of users gave OPENLANE an outperform vote while only 52.82% of users gave UniFirst an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
OPENLANE	Outperform Votes 644 71.24%	Underperform Votes 260 28.76%
UniFirst	Outperform Votes 234 52.82%	Underperform Votes 209 47.18%

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of KAR or UNF?

99.8% of OPENLANE shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.2% of UniFirst shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.3% of OPENLANE shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of UniFirst shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more volatility and risk, KAR or UNF?

OPENLANE has a beta of 1.44, meaning that its share price is 44% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, UniFirst has a beta of 0.82, meaning that its share price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to KAR or UNF?

In the previous week, OPENLANE had 8 more articles in the media than UniFirst. MarketBeat recorded 11 mentions for OPENLANE and 3 mentions for UniFirst. OPENLANE's average media sentiment score of 1.60 beat UniFirst's score of 1.34 indicating that OPENLANE is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
OPENLANE	3 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
UniFirst	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

OPENLANE beats UniFirst on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.