Contrasting Guangshen Railway (OTCMKTS:GSHHY) and Landstar System (NASDAQ:LSTR)

Landstar System (NASDAQ:LSTR) and Guangshen Railway (OTCMKTS:GSHHY) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, risk and dividends.

Volatility & Risk

Landstar System has a beta of 0.9, meaning that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Guangshen Railway has a beta of 0.66, meaning that its stock price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Landstar System and Guangshen Railway”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Landstar System	$4.74 billion	1.35	$115.01 million	$3.86	48.87
Guangshen Railway	$2.37 billion	0.55	-$80.84 million	N/A	N/A

Landstar System has higher revenue and earnings than Guangshen Railway.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Landstar System and Guangshen Railway, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Landstar System	2	10	3	2	2.29
Guangshen Railway	0	0	0	0	0.00

Landstar System presently has a consensus price target of $196.00, indicating a potential upside of 3.90%. Given Landstar System’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Landstar System is more favorable than Guangshen Railway.

Profitability

This table compares Landstar System and Guangshen Railway’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Landstar System	2.64%	20.84%	10.42%
Guangshen Railway	0.44%	0.30%	0.23%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

98.0% of Landstar System shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of Landstar System shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 71.4% of Guangshen Railway shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Landstar System beats Guangshen Railway on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Landstar System

Landstar System, Inc. provides integrated transportation management solutions in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and internationally. It operates through two segments: Transportation Logistics and Insurance. The Transportation Logistics segment offers a range of transportation services, including truckload and less-than-truckload transportation, rail intermodal, air cargo, ocean cargo, expedited ground and air delivery of time-critical freight, heavy-haul/specialized, U.S.-Canada and U.S.-Mexico cross-border, intra-Mexico, intra-Canada, project cargo, and customs brokerage, as well as offers transportation services to other transportation companies, such as third party logistics and less-than-truckload services. It provides truck services through dry and specialty vans of various sizes, unsided/platform trailers, temperature-controlled vans, and containers; rail intermodal services through contracts with domestic and Canadian railroads, certain short-line railroads, and asset-based intermodal equipment; and domestic and international air and ocean services. This segment serves the automotive parts and assemblies, consumer durables, building products, metals, chemicals, foodstuffs, heavy machinery, retail, electronics, and military equipment industries. The Insurance segment provides risk and claims management services; and reinsures risks of the company's independent contractors. It markets its services through independent commission sales agents and third party capacity providers. Landstar System, Inc. was incorporated in 1991 and is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.

About Guangshen Railway

Guangshen Railway Company Limited engages in the railway passenger and freight transportation business in the People's Republic of China. Its passenger transportation services include the operation of Guangzhou-Shenzhen inter-city express trains, long-distance trains, and Guangzhou-Hong Kong city through trains. The company's freight transportation services comprise the transportation of full load and single load cargos, containers, bulky and heavy cargo, dangerous goods, perishable goods, and oversized cargo. It also provides railway network usage services; and other transportation-related services, such as railway operation, locomotive and passenger car leasing, passenger service, and luggage transportation services, as well as sells food, beverages, and merchandise on board the trains and in railway stations. In addition, the company is involved in train repair, on-board catering, materials and supplies sale, goods sale, cargo loading and unloading, and other businesses related to railway transportation. Further, it offers warehousing, hotel management, and real estate construction services. The company was incorporated in 1996 and is based in Shenzhen, the People's Republic of China.