Reviewing Aurizon (OTCMKTS:QRNNF) & J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT)

Aurizon (OTCMKTS:QRNNF) and J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation and profitability.

Dividends

Aurizon pays an annual dividend of $0.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. J.B. Hunt Transport Services pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Aurizon pays out 54.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. J.B. Hunt Transport Services pays out 25.5% 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. J.B. Hunt Transport Services has raised its dividend for 22 consecutive years.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Aurizon and J.B. Hunt Transport Services, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Aurizon	0	1	0	0	2.00
J.B. Hunt Transport Services	1	10	13	2	2.62

Aurizon presently has a consensus target price of $3.80, suggesting a potential upside of 22.58%. J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a consensus target price of $286.30, suggesting a potential upside of 2.36%. Given Aurizon’s higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Aurizon is more favorable than J.B. Hunt Transport Services.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

13.3% of Aurizon shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.0% of J.B. Hunt Transport Services shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.5% of J.B. Hunt Transport Services shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Aurizon and J.B. Hunt Transport Services’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Aurizon	N/A	N/A	N/A
J.B. Hunt Transport Services	5.31%	18.75%	8.46%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Aurizon and J.B. Hunt Transport Services”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Aurizon	N/A	N/A	N/A	$0.12	26.27
J.B. Hunt Transport Services	$12.00 billion	2.19	$598.28 million	$7.06	39.62

J.B. Hunt Transport Services has higher revenue and earnings than Aurizon. Aurizon 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

J.B. Hunt Transport Services beats Aurizon on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Aurizon

Aurizon Holdings Limited, through its subsidiaries, operates as a rail freight operator in Australia. The company operates through Network, Coal, Bulk, and Other segments. It transports various commodities, including mining, agricultural, industrial, and retail products; and retail goods and groceries across small and big towns, and cities, as well as coal and iron ore. The company also operates and manages the Central Queensland Coal Network that consists of 2,670 kilometers of track network; and provides various specialist services, such as rail design, engineering, construction, management, and maintenance, as well as supply chain solutions. It serves miners, primary producers, and the industry. The company was formerly known as QR National Limited and changed its name to Aurizon Holdings Limited in December 2012. The company was incorporated in 2010 and is headquartered in Fortitude Valley, Australia.

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.