Wabash National (NYSE:WNC) vs. Proliance International (OTCMKTS:PLNTQ) Financial Comparison

Proliance International (OTCMKTS:PLNTQ) and Wabash National (NYSE:WNC) are both auto/tires/trucks companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, valuation and risk.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

97.1% of Wabash National shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.3% of Proliance International shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.8% of Wabash National shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Proliance International and Wabash National, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Proliance International	0	0	0	0	0.00
Wabash National	1	2	0	0	1.67

Wabash National has a consensus target price of $9.00, suggesting a potential downside of 3.51%. Given Proliance International’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Proliance International is more favorable than Wabash National.

Profitability

This table compares Proliance International and Wabash National’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Proliance International	N/A	N/A	N/A
Wabash National	15.89%	-15.21%	-3.83%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Proliance International and Wabash National”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Proliance International	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Wabash National	$1.95 billion	0.19	-$284.07 million	$6.08	1.53

Proliance International has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Wabash National.

Volatility and Risk

Proliance International has a beta of 3.84, indicating that its share price is 284% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Wabash National has a beta of 1.67, indicating that its share price is 67% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Proliance International beats Wabash National on 5 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Proliance International

Proliance International, Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets heat exchange products and temperature control parts for the automotive and light truck aftermarket, as well as heat exchange products. The company’s heat exchange products include radiators, heater cores, heaters, radiator cores, and condensers; and temperature control parts comprise condensers, compressors, accumulators/driers, and evaporators. It also offers air conditioning parts and supplies, such as hose and tube assemblies, expansion valves, blowers, and fan clutches. In addition, the company provides charge air coolers, oil coolers, marine coolers, and other specialty heat exchangers for heavy-duty trucks, buses, specialty equipment, and industrial and marine applications, such as agricultural, construction and military vehicles, oil rigs, stationary power generation equipment, and inland sea-going vessels. Its customers include national retailers of aftermarket automotive products, warehouse distributors, radiator shops, hard parts jobbers, and other manufacturers. The company offers its products in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, and Central America. Proliance International, Inc. was formerly known as Transpro, Inc. and changed its name to Proliance International, Inc. in July 2005. The company was founded in 1915 and is based in New Haven, Connecticut.

About Wabash National

Wabash National Corporation provides connected solutions for the transportation, logistics, and distribution industries primarily in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Transportation Solutions and Parts & Services. The Transportation Solutions segment designs and manufactures transportation-related equipment and products dry and refrigerated van trailers, platform trailers, tank trailers, and truck-mounted tanks; truck bodies for dry-freight transportation; cargo and cargo XL bodies for commercial applications; refrigerated truck bodies; platform truck bodies; and used trailers, as well as laminated hardwood oak flooring products. The Parts & Services segment provides aftermarket parts and services; steel flatbed bodies, truck body mounting, shelving for package delivery, partitions, roof racks, hitches, liftgates, thermal solutions, and others; truck body repair parts; and door repair and replacement, collision repair, and basic maintenance services. It also develops and scales a digital marketplace for the transportation and logistics distribution industry; operates a parts and services distribution platform; and stainless steel storage tanks and silos, mixers, and processors for the dairy, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, chemical, craft brewing, and biotech markets; trailers as a service; and composite products, including truck bodies, overhead doors, and other industrial application products, as well as used trailers. The company offers its products under the Wabash, DuraPlate, DuraPlateHD, DuraPlate AeroSkirt, and AeroSkirt CX brands, as well as EcoNex brand. It serves its products to truckload common carriers, leasing companies, private fleet carriers, less-than-truckload common carriers, and package carriers. Wabash National Corporation was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Lafayette, Indiana.