NSC vs. UNP, CP, CNI, CSX, FIP, GE, UPS, FDX, DAL, and ODFL
Should you be buying Norfolk Southern stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Norfolk Southern include Union Pacific (UNP), Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP), Canadian National Railway (CNI), CSX (CSX), FTAI Infrastructure (FIP), General Electric (GE), United Parcel Service (UPS), FedEx (FDX), Delta Air Lines (DAL), and Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL).
Norfolk Southern vs.
Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) and Union Pacific (NYSE:UNP) are both large-cap transportation companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, media sentiment, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability, dividends and community ranking.
Union Pacific received 440 more outperform votes than Norfolk Southern when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 70.26% of users gave Union Pacific an outperform vote while only 57.66% of users gave Norfolk Southern an outperform vote.
Union Pacific has a net margin of 27.82% compared to Norfolk Southern's net margin of 21.63%. Union Pacific's return on equity of 41.12% beat Norfolk Southern's return on equity.
Norfolk Southern currently has a consensus target price of $276.95, suggesting a potential upside of 13.56%. Union Pacific has a consensus target price of $263.00, suggesting a potential upside of 5.27%. Given Norfolk Southern's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Norfolk Southern is more favorable than Union Pacific.
75.1% of Norfolk Southern shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.4% of Union Pacific shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Norfolk Southern shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Union Pacific shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Norfolk Southern pays an annual dividend of $5.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Union Pacific pays an annual dividend of $5.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Norfolk Southern pays out 46.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Union Pacific pays out 48.3% 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. Union Pacific has raised its dividend for 18 consecutive years. Norfolk Southern is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Norfolk Southern has a beta of 1.35, indicating that its stock price is 35% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Union Pacific has a beta of 1.05, indicating that its stock price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Union Pacific has higher revenue and earnings than Norfolk Southern. Norfolk Southern is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Union Pacific, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
In the previous week, Union Pacific had 28 more articles in the media than Norfolk Southern. MarketBeat recorded 56 mentions for Union Pacific and 28 mentions for Norfolk Southern. Union Pacific's average media sentiment score of 1.44 beat Norfolk Southern's score of 1.31 indicating that Union Pacific is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Summary
Union Pacific beats Norfolk Southern on 16 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding {thisCompany.Symbol} and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Media Sentiment Over Time
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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This page (NYSE:NSC) was last updated on 3/8/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
