Comparing West Japan Railway (OTCMKTS:WJRYY) & Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN)

West Japan Railway (OTCMKTS:WJRYY) and Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) are both mid-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, risk, valuation, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for West Japan Railway and Werner Enterprises, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
West Japan Railway	1	0	0	0	1.00
Werner Enterprises	3	8	4	1	2.19

Werner Enterprises has a consensus target price of $41.54, indicating a potential upside of 10.74%. Given Werner Enterprises’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Werner Enterprises is more favorable than West Japan Railway.

Dividends

West Japan Railway pays an annual dividend of $0.38 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Werner Enterprises pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. West Japan Railway pays out 22.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Werner Enterprises pays out -73.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Werner Enterprises has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

89.3% of Werner Enterprises shares are held by institutional investors. 1.3% of Werner Enterprises shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares West Japan Railway and Werner Enterprises”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
West Japan Railway	$12.26 billion	0.69	$846.98 million	$1.67	11.06
Werner Enterprises	$2.97 billion	0.76	-$14.40 million	($0.76)	-49.36

West Japan Railway has higher revenue and earnings than Werner Enterprises. Werner Enterprises is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than West Japan Railway, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

West Japan Railway has a beta of 0.13, meaning that its stock price is 87% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Werner Enterprises has a beta of 1.27, meaning that its stock price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares West Japan Railway and Werner Enterprises’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
West Japan Railway	6.41%	9.36%	3.21%
Werner Enterprises	-1.42%	1.18%	0.52%

Summary

Werner Enterprises beats West Japan Railway on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About West Japan Railway

West Japan Railway Company provides railway transport services in Japan. The company operates through Mobility, Retail, Real Estate, Travel and Regional Solutions, and Other segments. The Mobility segment provides passenger transportation, station operation and management, cleaning and maintenance, construction, machinery and equipment installation, rolling stock and other facility construction services, as well as engages in the railway operations and electric works. The Retail segment sells goods; offers food and other wholesale operation services; and operates department stores. The Real Estate segment sells and leases real estate properties, as well as operates shopping centers and hotels. The Travel and Regional Solutions segment provides travel agency and regional solutions. The Other segment engages in the advertising and other businesses. The company is also involved in the operation of convenience stores, restaurants, and souvenir shops; and provision of credit cards and electronic money services. The company was incorporated in 1987 and is based in Osaka, Japan.

About Werner Enterprises

Werner Enterprises, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in transporting truckload shipments of general commodities in interstate and intrastate commerce in the United States, Mexico, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Truckload Transportation Services and Werner Logistics. The Truckload Transportation Services segment operates a fleet of medium-to-long-haul vans that transports various consumer nondurable products and other commodities in truckload quantities using dry van trailers; the expedited fleet, which offers time-sensitive truckload services using driver teams; a regional short-haul fleet that provides truckload van service in the United States; and temperature-controlled fleet, which offers truckload services for temperature-sensitive products using temperature-controlled trailers. This segment provides truckload services to retail distribution centers or manufacturing facilities using dry vans or trailers to transport retail store merchandise, consumer products, food and beverage products, and manufactured products. As of December 31, 2023, it had a fleet of 8,000 trucks, which included 7,740 company-operated, as well as 260 owned and operated by independent contractors; and 30,810 trailers that comprised dry vans, flatbeds, temperature-controlled, and other trailers. The Werner Logistics segment provides non-asset-based transportation and logistics services, including truck brokerage; logistics management services and solutions; rail transportation through alliances with rail and drayage providers; and residential and commercial deliveries of large or heavy items using liftgate straight trucks. As of December 31, 2023, this segment operated 35 drayage tractors and 115 delivery trucks. It also sells used trucks and trailers; and trades used trucks to original equipment manufacturers. The company was founded in 1956 and is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska.