U-Haul (NYSE:UHAL) & Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte (NASDAQ:OMAB) Critical Review

Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte (NASDAQ:OMAB) and U-Haul (NYSE:UHAL) are both transportation companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and profitability.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

9.5% of Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 3.6% of U-Haul shares are owned by institutional investors. 43.6% of U-Haul shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte and U-Haul”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte	$826.93 million	5.55	$237.12 million	$5.65	19.09
U-Haul	$5.83 billion	N/A	$367.09 million	$1.01	51.08

U-Haul has higher revenue and earnings than Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte. Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than U-Haul, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte and U-Haul, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte	1	4	2	0	2.14
U-Haul	1	0	0	1	2.50

Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte currently has a consensus price target of $102.50, suggesting a potential downside of 4.97%. Given Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte is more favorable than U-Haul.

Profitability

This table compares Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte and U-Haul’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte	33.36%	53.08%	18.93%
U-Haul	3.90%	2.99%	1.12%

Risk and Volatility

Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte has a beta of 0.78, suggesting that its stock price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, U-Haul has a beta of 1.14, suggesting that its stock price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500.

About Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte

Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte, S.A.B. de C.V., together with its subsidiaries, holds concessions to develop, operate, and maintain airports in Mexico. The company operates 13 international airports in Monterrey, Acapulco, Mazatlán, Zihuatanejo, Ciudad Juárez, Reynosa, Chihuahua, Culiacán, Durango, San Luis Potosí, Tampico, Torreón, and Zacatecas cities. It also operates the NH Collection Hotel in Terminal 2 of the Mexico City International Airport, and a hotel under the Hilton Garden Inn name at the Monterrey International Airport. In addition, the company provides aeronautical services, which include passenger, aircraft landing and parking, boarding and unloading, passenger walkway, and airport security services. Further, it offers complementary services that comprise leasing of space to airlines, cargo handling, baggage-screening, permanent and non-permanent ground transportation, and access rights services; non-aeronautical services, such as leasing of space at its airports to retailers, restaurants, and other commercial tenants, as well as maintaining of parking facilities and advertising; and diversification services, which consists of operation and lease of the industrial park and real estate services, as well as hotel and air cargo logistics services. Additionally, the company provides construction services. It has a strategic alliance with VYNMSA Desarrollo Inmobiliario, S.A. de C.V. to build and operate an industrial park at the Monterrey airport. The company was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico.

About U-Haul

AMERCO operates as a do-it-yourself moving and storage operator for household and commercial goods in the United States and Canada. The company’s Moving and Storage segment rents trucks, trailers, portable moving and storage units, specialty rental items, and self-storage spaces primarily to the household movers; and sells moving supplies, towing accessories, and propane. It also provides uhaul.com, an online marketplace that connects consumers to independent Moving Help service providers and independent self-storage affiliates; auto transport and tow dolly options to transport vehicles; and specialty boxes for dishes, computers, and sensitive electronic equipment, as well as tapes, security locks, and packing supplies. This segment rents its products and services through a network of approximately 2,065 company operated retail moving stores and 20,100 independent U-Haul dealers. As of March 31, 2020, it had a rental fleet of approximately 176,000 trucks, 127,000 trailers, and 41,000 towing devices; and 1,745 self-storage locations with approximately 774,000 rentable storage units. The company’s Property and Casualty Insurance segment offers loss adjusting and claims handling services. It also provides moving and storage protection packages, such as Safemove and Safetow packages, which offer moving and towing customers with a damage waiver, cargo protection, and medical and life insurance coverage; Safestor that protects storage customers from loss on their goods in storage; Safestor Mobile, which protects customers stored belongings; and Safemove Plus, which provides rental customers with a layer of primary liability protection. The company’s Life Insurance segment provides life and health insurance products primarily to the senior market through the direct writing and reinsuring of life insurance, medicare supplement, and annuity policies. AMERCO was founded in 1945 and is based in Reno, Nevada.