Financial Review: Grab (NASDAQ:GRAB) and Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD)

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Heartland Express	-1.77%	0.30%	0.19%
Grab	14.76%	8.45%	4.57%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Heartland Express and Grab”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Heartland Express	$805.71 million	0.97	-$52.45 million	($0.16)	-63.06
Grab	$3.37 billion	4.15	$268.00 million	$0.05	68.20

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.

Risk & Volatility

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Heartland Express and Grab, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Heartland Express	3	4	0	0	1.57
Grab	0	2	8	1	2.91

Heartland Express currently has a consensus target price of $11.80, suggesting a potential upside of 16.95%. Grab has a consensus target price of $5.67, suggesting a potential upside of 66.24%. Given Grab’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Grab is more favorable than Heartland Express.

Summary

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

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.

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.