Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER) and Old Dominion Freight Line (NASDAQ:ODFL) Critical Analysis

Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER) and Old Dominion Freight Line (NASDAQ:ODFL) are both large-cap industrials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, dividends and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Uber Technologies and Old Dominion Freight Line, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Uber Technologies	3	4	34	2	2.81
Old Dominion Freight Line	2	14	10	0	2.31

Uber Technologies presently has a consensus target price of $103.03, indicating a potential upside of 51.78%. Old Dominion Freight Line has a consensus target price of $227.65, indicating a potential upside of 27.82%. Given Uber Technologies’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Uber Technologies is more favorable than Old Dominion Freight Line.

Profitability

This table compares Uber Technologies and Old Dominion Freight Line’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Uber Technologies	17.34%	43.36%	19.15%
Old Dominion Freight Line	19.44%	24.87%	19.47%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

80.2% of Uber Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.8% of Old Dominion Freight Line shares are held by institutional investors. 3.8% of Uber Technologies shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 8.2% of Old Dominion Freight Line shares are held 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.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Uber Technologies and Old Dominion Freight Line”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Uber Technologies	$52.02 billion	2.67	$10.05 billion	$4.55	14.92
Old Dominion Freight Line	$5.50 billion	6.72	$1.02 billion	$5.19	34.32

Uber Technologies has higher revenue and earnings than Old Dominion Freight Line. Uber Technologies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Old Dominion Freight Line, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Uber Technologies has a beta of 1.27, indicating that its share price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Old Dominion Freight Line has a beta of 1.2, indicating that its share price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Uber Technologies beats Old Dominion Freight Line on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Uber Technologies

Uber Technologies, Inc. develops and operates proprietary technology applications in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia excluding China and Southeast Asia. It operates through three segments: Mobility, Delivery, and Freight. The Mobility segment connects consumers with a range of transportation modalities, such as ridesharing, carsharing, micromobility, rentals, public transit, taxis, and other modalities; and offers riders in a variety of vehicle types, as well as financial partnerships products and advertising services. The Delivery segment allows to search for and discover restaurants to grocery, alcohol, convenience, and other retails; order a meal or other items; and Uber direct, a white-label Delivery-as-a-Service for retailers and restaurants, as well as advertising. The Freight segment manages transportation and logistics network, which connects shippers and carriers in digital marketplace including carriers upfronts, pricing, and shipment booking; and provides on-demand platform to automate logistics end-to-end transactions for small-and medium-sized business to global enterprises. The company was formerly known as Ubercab, Inc. and changed its name to Uber Technologies, Inc. in February 2011. Uber Technologies, Inc. was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

About Old Dominion Freight Line

Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. operates as a less-than-truckload motor carrier in the United States and North America. The company offers regional, inter-regional, and national less-than-truckload services, as well as expedited transportation. It also provides various value-added services, including container drayage, truckload brokerage, and supply chain consulting. As of December 31, 2023, it owned and operated 10,791 tractors, 31,233 linehaul trailers, and 15,181 pickup and delivery trailers; 46 fleet maintenance centers; and 257 service centers. Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. was founded in 1934 and is headquartered in Thomasville, North Carolina.