Comparing Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) & Grab (NASDAQ:GRAB)

Grab (NASDAQ:GRAB) and Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends and valuation.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Grab and Heartland Express”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Grab	$3.37 billion	4.10	$268.00 million	$0.06	56.25
Heartland Express	$805.71 million	1.03	-$52.45 million	($0.16)	-67.06

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

Volatility & Risk

Grab has a beta of 0.83, meaning that its stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Heartland Express has a beta of 1.39, meaning that its stock price is 39% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

55.5% of Grab shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 53.4% of Heartland Express shares are held by institutional investors. 3.6% of Grab shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 41.6% of Heartland Express shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Grab and Heartland Express, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Grab	0	1	8	2	3.09
Heartland Express	3	4	0	0	1.57

Grab currently has a consensus price target of $5.67, suggesting a potential upside of 67.96%. Heartland Express has a consensus price target of $11.80, suggesting a potential upside of 9.97%. Given Grab’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Grab is more favorable than Heartland Express.

Profitability

This table compares Grab and Heartland Express’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Grab	15.97%	8.83%	4.92%
Heartland Express	-1.77%	0.30%	0.19%

Summary

Grab beats Heartland Express on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Grab

Grab Holdings Limited engages in the provision of superapps in Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. The company offers its Grab ecosystem, a single platform with superapps for driver- and merchant-partners and consumers, that allows access to mobility, delivery, digital financial services, and enterprise sector offerings. Grab Holdings Limited is headquartered in Singapore.

About Heartland Express

Heartland Express, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a short-to-medium, and long-haul truckload carrier in the United States and Canada. It primarily provides nationwide asset-based dry van truckload service for shippers; cross-border freight and other transportation services; and temperature-controlled truckload services. The company offers its services under the Heartland Express and Millis Transfer brand names. It primarily serves retailers and manufacturers in consumer goods, appliances, food products, and automotive industries. The company was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in North Liberty, Iowa.