Reviewing Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) and Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT)

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) and Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) are both industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, valuation, risk, institutional ownership, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Lyft and Norfolk Southern, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lyft	2	22	13	0	2.30
Norfolk Southern	0	15	7	0	2.32

Lyft currently has a consensus target price of $19.80, indicating a potential upside of 13.34%. Norfolk Southern has a consensus target price of $348.00, indicating a potential downside of 0.79%. Given Lyft’s higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Lyft is more favorable than Norfolk Southern.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

83.1% of Lyft shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.1% of Norfolk Southern shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Lyft shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Norfolk Southern shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Lyft has a beta of 1.8, meaning that its stock price is 80% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Norfolk Southern has a beta of 1.27, meaning that its stock price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Lyft and Norfolk Southern’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lyft	42.32%	-1.20%	-0.36%
Norfolk Southern	21.02%	18.21%	6.34%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Lyft and Norfolk Southern”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lyft	$6.77 billion	0.98	$2.84 billion	$6.88	2.54
Norfolk Southern	$12.18 billion	6.47	$2.87 billion	$11.72	29.93

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

Summary

Norfolk Southern beats Lyft on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lyft

Lyft, Inc. operates a peer-to-peer marketplace for on-demand ridesharing in the United States and Canada. It operates multimodal transportation networks that offer access to various transportation options through the Lyft platform and mobile-based applications. The company's platform provides a ridesharing marketplace, which connects drivers with riders; Express Drive, a car rental program for drivers; and a network of shared bikes and scooters in various cities to address the needs of riders for short trips. It also offers centralized tools and enterprise transportation solutions, such as concierge transportation solutions for organizations; Lyft Pink subscription plans; Lyft Pass commuter programs; first-mile and last-mile services; and university safe rides programs. The company was formerly known as Zimride, Inc. and changed its name to Lyft, Inc. in April 2013. Lyft, Inc. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

About Norfolk Southern

Norfolk Southern Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the rail transportation of raw materials, intermediate products, and finished goods in the United States. The company transports agriculture, forest, and consumer products comprising soybeans, wheat, corn, fertilizers, livestock and poultry feed, food products, food oils, flour, sweeteners, ethanol, lumber and wood products, pulp board and paper products, wood fibers, wood pulp, beverages, and canned goods; chemicals consist of sulfur and related chemicals, petroleum products comprising crude oil, chlorine and bleaching compounds, plastics, rubber, industrial chemicals, chemical wastes, sand, and natural gas liquids; metals and construction materials, such as steel, aluminum products, machinery, scrap metals, cement, aggregates, minerals, clay, transportation equipment, and military-related products; and automotive, including finished motor vehicles and automotive parts, as well as coal. It also transports overseas freight through various Atlantic and Gulf Coast ports; and operates an intermodal network. As of December 31, 2023, the company operated approximately 19,100 route miles in 22 states and the District of Columbia. Norfolk Southern Corporation was incorporated in 1980 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.