Air T (NASDAQ:AIRT) versus Expeditors International of Washington (NASDAQ:EXPD) Critical Contrast

Air T (NASDAQ:AIRT) and Expeditors International of Washington (NASDAQ:EXPD) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk and profitability.

Dividends

Air T pays an annual dividend of $0.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Expeditors International of Washington pays an annual dividend of $1.62 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Air T pays out 1.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Expeditors International of Washington pays out 23.6% 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. Expeditors International of Washington has increased its dividend for 31 consecutive years. Air T is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

8.9% of Air T shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.0% of Expeditors International of Washington shares are held by institutional investors. 68.6% of Air T shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Expeditors International of Washington shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Air T and Expeditors International of Washington’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Air T	17.17%	246.01%	19.62%
Expeditors International of Washington	7.64%	36.16%	16.88%

Risk & Volatility

Air T has a beta of 0.27, indicating that its stock price is 73% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Expeditors International of Washington has a beta of 1.04, indicating that its stock price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Air T and Expeditors International of Washington, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Air T	1	0	0	0	1.00
Expeditors International of Washington	3	6	2	2	2.23

Expeditors International of Washington has a consensus price target of $168.78, suggesting a potential downside of 9.44%. Given Expeditors International of Washington’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Expeditors International of Washington is more favorable than Air T.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Air T and Expeditors International of Washington”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Air T	$327.09 million	0.24	$77.98 million	$23.59	1.25
Expeditors International of Washington	$12.04 billion	2.01	$752.88 million	$6.87	27.13

Expeditors International of Washington has higher revenue and earnings than Air T. Air T is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Expeditors International of Washington, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Expeditors International of Washington beats Air T on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Air T

Air T, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides overnight air cargo, ground equipment sale, and commercial jet engines and parts in the United States and internationally. The Overnight Air Cargo segment offers air express delivery services. As of March 31, 2023, this segment had 85 aircraft under the dry-lease agreements with FedEx. The Ground Equipment Sales segment manufactures, sells, and services aircraft deicers, scissor-type lifts, military and civilian decontamination units, flight-line tow tractors, glycol recovery vehicles, and other specialized equipment. This segment sells its products to passenger and cargo airlines, ground handling companies, the United States Air Force, airports, and industrial customers. The Commercial Aircraft, Engines and Parts segment offers commercial aircraft trading, leasing, and parts solutions; commercial aircraft storage, storage maintenance, and aircraft disassembly/part-out services; commercial aircraft parts sales, exchanges, procurement services, consignment programs, and overhaul and repair services; and aircraft instrumentation, avionics, and a range of electrical accessories for civilian, military transport, regional/commuter and business/commercial jet, and turboprop aircraft. This segment also provides composite aircraft structures, and repair and support services. Air T, Inc. was incorporated in 1980 and is based in Denver, North Carolina.

About Expeditors International of Washington

Expeditors International of Washington, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides logistics services worldwide. The company offers airfreight services, such as air freight consolidation and forwarding; ocean freight and ocean services, including ocean freight consolidation, direct ocean forwarding, and order management; customs brokerage, import, intra-continental ground transportation and delivery, and warehousing and distribution services; and customs clearance, purchase order management, vendor consolidation, time-definite transportation services, temperature-controlled transit, cargo insurance, specialized cargo monitoring and tracking, and other supply chain solutions. It also provides optimization, trade compliance consulting, cargo security, and solutions. In addition, it acts as a freight consolidator or as an agent for the airline that carries the shipment. Further, the company provides ancillary services that include preparation of shipping and customs documentation, packing, crating, insurance services, and the preparation of documentation to comply with local import and export laws. Its customers include retailing and wholesaling, electronics, technology, and industrial and manufacturing companies. The company was incorporated in 1979 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.