Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER) vs. J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) Critical Contrast

Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER) and J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) are both large-cap industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, profitability, dividends, risk, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Risk and Volatility

Uber Technologies has a beta of 1.33, meaning that its share price is 33% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a beta of 1.26, meaning that its share price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

80.2% of Uber Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.0% of J.B. Hunt Transport Services shares are held by institutional investors. 3.8% of Uber Technologies shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.5% of J.B. Hunt Transport Services shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Uber Technologies and J.B. Hunt Transport Services’ 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%
J.B. Hunt Transport Services	5.07%	18.72%	8.48%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Uber Technologies and J.B. Hunt Transport Services, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Uber Technologies	3	4	33	2	2.81
J.B. Hunt Transport Services	1	10	14	1	2.58

Uber Technologies currently has a consensus target price of $102.97, indicating a potential upside of 53.35%. J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a consensus target price of $273.76, indicating a potential upside of 22.79%. Given Uber Technologies’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Uber Technologies is more favorable than J.B. Hunt Transport Services.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Uber Technologies and J.B. Hunt Transport Services”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	2.64	$10.05 billion	$4.55	14.76
J.B. Hunt Transport Services	$12.00 billion	1.73	$598.28 million	$7.12	31.31

Uber Technologies has higher revenue and earnings than J.B. Hunt Transport Services. Uber Technologies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than J.B. Hunt Transport Services, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Uber Technologies beats J.B. Hunt Transport Services on 13 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 J.B. Hunt Transport Services

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. provides surface transportation, delivery, and logistic services in the United States. It operates through five segments: Intermodal (JBI), Dedicated Contract Services (DCS), Integrated Capacity Solutions (ICS), Final Mile Services (FMS), and Truckload (JBT). The JBI segment offers intermodal freight solutions. It operates 118,171 pieces of company-owned trailing equipment; owns and maintains its chassis fleet of 100,825 units; and manages a fleet of 5,944 company-owned tractors, 436 independent contractor trucks, and 7,567 company drivers. The DCS segment designs, develops, and executes supply chain solutions that support various transportation networks. As of December 31, 2023, it operated 12,574 company-owned trucks, 674 customer-owned trucks, and 4 contractor trucks. The company also operates 27,194 owned pieces of trailing equipment and 5,406 customer-owned trailers. The ICS segment provides freight brokerage and transportation logistics solutions; flatbed, refrigerated, expedited, and less-than-truckload, as well as dry-van and intermodal solutions; online multimodal marketplace; and logistics management for customers to outsource their transportation functions. The FMS segment offers delivery services through 1,166 company-owned trucks, 225 customer-owned trucks, and 20 independent contractor trucks; and 1,212 owned pieces of trailing equipment and 102 customer-owned trailers. The JBT segment provides dry-van freight services by utilizing tractors and trailers operating over roads and highways through 27 company-owned tractors and 13,561 company-owned trailers. It also transports or arranges for the transportation of freight, such as general merchandise, specialty consumer items, appliances, forest and paper products, food and beverages, building materials, soaps and cosmetics, automotive parts, agricultural products, electronics, and chemicals. The company was incorporated in 1961 and is headquartered in Lowell, Arkansas.