Analyzing XPEL (NASDAQ:XPEL) & Wabash National (NYSE:WNC)

XPEL (NASDAQ:XPEL) and Wabash National (NYSE:WNC) are both small-cap auto/tires/trucks companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, valuation, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Volatility & Risk

XPEL has a beta of 1.11, indicating that its share price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Wabash National has a beta of 1.55, indicating that its share price is 55% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for XPEL and Wabash National, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
XPEL	0	3	0	0	2.00
Wabash National	1	1	1	0	2.00

Wabash National has a consensus price target of $14.50, suggesting a potential upside of 3.68%. Given Wabash National’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Wabash National is more favorable than XPEL.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares XPEL and Wabash National”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
XPEL	$489.75 million	2.78	$51.23 million	$1.91	25.85
Wabash National	$1.54 billion	0.37	$211.45 million	($1.60)	-8.74

Wabash National has higher revenue and earnings than XPEL. Wabash National is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than XPEL, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
XPEL	10.82%	19.14%	14.29%
Wabash National	-4.41%	-30.16%	-8.79%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

75.1% of XPEL shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.1% of Wabash National shares are owned by institutional investors. 9.4% of XPEL shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.8% of Wabash National shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

XPEL beats Wabash National on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About XPEL

XPEL, Inc. sells, distributes, and installs protective films and coatings worldwide. The company offers automotive surface and paint protection film, headlight protection, and automotive and architectural window films, as well as proprietary DAP software. It also provides pre-cut film products, merchandise and apparel, ceramic coatings, and tools and accessories. In addition, the company offers paint protection kits, car wash products, after-care products, and installation tools through its website. The company sells and distributes its products through independent installers, new car dealerships, third-party distributors, automobile original equipment manufacturers, and company-owned installation centers, as well as through franchisees and online channels. The company serves in the United States, China, Canada, Continental Europe, the United Kingdom, Asia Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East/Africa, and internationally. XPEL, Inc. was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas.

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.