Head to Head Review: XPO (NYSE:XPO) versus Landstar System (NASDAQ:LSTR)

Landstar System (NASDAQ:LSTR) and XPO (NYSE:XPO) are both transportation companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership and dividends.

Risk & Volatility

Landstar System has a beta of 0.88, suggesting that its stock price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, XPO has a beta of 1.93, suggesting that its stock price is 93% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Landstar System and XPO, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Landstar System	1	14	1	1	2.12
XPO	0	0	19	0	3.00

Landstar System currently has a consensus price target of $151.50, suggesting a potential upside of 3.73%. XPO has a consensus price target of $134.89, suggesting a potential upside of 2.09%. Given Landstar System’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Landstar System is more favorable than XPO.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

98.0% of Landstar System shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.7% of XPO shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of Landstar System shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.9% of XPO shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Landstar System and XPO’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Landstar System	3.72%	18.23%	10.15%
XPO	4.87%	28.27%	5.77%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Landstar System and XPO”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Landstar System	$4.82 billion	1.06	$195.95 million	$5.05	28.92
XPO	$8.07 billion	1.93	$387.00 million	$3.25	40.66

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

Summary

XPO beats Landstar System on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Landstar System

Landstar System, Inc. provides integrated transportation management solutions in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and internationally. It operates through two segments: Transportation Logistics and Insurance. The Transportation Logistics segment offers a range of transportation services, including truckload and less-than-truckload transportation, rail intermodal, air cargo, ocean cargo, expedited ground and air delivery of time-critical freight, heavy-haul/specialized, U.S.-Canada and U.S.-Mexico cross-border, intra-Mexico, intra-Canada, project cargo, and customs brokerage, as well as offers transportation services to other transportation companies, such as third party logistics and less-than-truckload services. It provides truck services through dry and specialty vans of various sizes, unsided/platform trailers, temperature-controlled vans, and containers; rail intermodal services through contracts with domestic and Canadian railroads, certain short-line railroads, and asset-based intermodal equipment; and domestic and international air and ocean services. This segment serves the automotive parts and assemblies, consumer durables, building products, metals, chemicals, foodstuffs, heavy machinery, retail, electronics, and military equipment industries. The Insurance segment provides risk and claims management services; and reinsures risks of the company's independent contractors. It markets its services through independent commission sales agents and third party capacity providers. Landstar System, Inc. was incorporated in 1991 and is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.

About XPO

XPO, Inc. provides freight transportation services in the United States, rest of North America, France, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, North American LTL and European Transportation. The North American LTL segment provides customers with less-than-truckload (LTL) services, such as geographic density and day-definite domestic services. This segment also offers cross-border U.S., Mexico, Canada, and the Caribbean, as well as engages in the operation of trailer manufacturing. The European Transportation segment offers dedicated truckload, LTL, truck brokerage, managed transportation, last mile, freight forwarding and multimodal solutions, such as road-rail and road-short sea combinations. It provides its services to customers in various industries, such as industrial and manufacturing, retail and e-commerce, food and beverage, logistics and transportation, and consumer goods. The company was formerly known as XPO Logistics, Inc. and changed its name to XPO, Inc. in December 2022. XPO, Inc. was incorporated in 2000 and is based in Greenwich, Connecticut.