Critical Review: Miller Industries (NYSE:MLR) versus Wabash National (NYSE:WNC)

Wabash National (NYSE:WNC) and Miller Industries (NYSE:MLR) are both small-cap auto/tires/trucks companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, earnings, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

97.1% of Wabash National shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.2% of Miller Industries shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.2% of Wabash National shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 4.4% of Miller Industries shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Wabash National has a beta of 1.67, indicating that its stock price is 67% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Miller Industries has a beta of 1.25, indicating that its stock price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Wabash National and Miller Industries, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Wabash National	1	2	0	0	1.67
Miller Industries	0	2	1	0	2.33

Wabash National presently has a consensus price target of $10.00, indicating a potential downside of 1.34%. Miller Industries has a consensus price target of $55.00, indicating a potential upside of 31.01%. Given Miller Industries’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Miller Industries is more favorable than Wabash National.

Profitability

This table compares Wabash National and Miller Industries’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Wabash National	13.71%	-22.79%	-6.77%
Miller Industries	3.59%	7.32%	4.76%

Dividends

Wabash National pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Miller Industries pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Wabash National pays out 6.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Miller Industries pays out 30.8% 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. Miller Industries has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Wabash National is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Wabash National and Miller Industries”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Wabash National	$1.54 billion	0.27	$211.45 million	$4.87	2.08
Miller Industries	$1.26 billion	0.38	$63.49 million	$2.60	16.15

Wabash National has higher revenue and earnings than Miller Industries. Wabash National is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Miller Industries, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Miller Industries beats Wabash National on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Wabash National

Wabash National Corporation provides connected solutions for the transportation, logistics, and distribution industries primarily in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Transportation Solutions and Parts & Services. The Transportation Solutions segment designs and manufactures transportation-related equipment and products dry and refrigerated van trailers, platform trailers, tank trailers, and truck-mounted tanks; truck bodies for dry-freight transportation; cargo and cargo XL bodies for commercial applications; refrigerated truck bodies; platform truck bodies; and used trailers, as well as laminated hardwood oak flooring products. The Parts & Services segment provides aftermarket parts and services; steel flatbed bodies, truck body mounting, shelving for package delivery, partitions, roof racks, hitches, liftgates, thermal solutions, and others; truck body repair parts; and door repair and replacement, collision repair, and basic maintenance services. It also develops and scales a digital marketplace for the transportation and logistics distribution industry; operates a parts and services distribution platform; and stainless steel storage tanks and silos, mixers, and processors for the dairy, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, chemical, craft brewing, and biotech markets; trailers as a service; and composite products, including truck bodies, overhead doors, and other industrial application products, as well as used trailers. The company offers its products under the Wabash, DuraPlate, DuraPlateHD, DuraPlate AeroSkirt, and AeroSkirt CX brands, as well as EcoNex brand. It serves its products to truckload common carriers, leasing companies, private fleet carriers, less-than-truckload common carriers, and package carriers. Wabash National Corporation was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Lafayette, Indiana.

About Miller Industries

Miller Industries, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells towing and recovery equipment. The company offers wreckers that are used to recover and tow disabled vehicles and other equipment; and car carriers, which are specialized flat-bed vehicles with hydraulic tilt mechanisms, which are used to transport new or disabled vehicles and other equipment. It also provides transport trailers for moving various vehicles for auto auctions, car dealerships, leasing companies, and other similar operations. The company markets its products under the Century, Vulcan, Challenger, Holmes, Champion, Chevron, Eagle, Titan, Jige, and Boniface brands. Miller Industries, Inc. sells its products through independent distributors in North America, and Canada, Mexico; and through prime contractors to governmental entities. Miller Industries, Inc. was incorporated in 1990 and is headquartered in Ooltewah, Tennessee.