Analyzing Matson (NYSE:MATX) and RXO (NYSE:RXO)

Matson (NYSE:MATX) and RXO (NYSE:RXO) are both mid-cap transportation companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, dividends and valuation.

Risk and Volatility

Matson has a beta of 1.33, indicating that its stock price is 33% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, RXO has a beta of 1.65, indicating that its stock price is 65% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Matson and RXO’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Matson	13.30%	16.63%	9.75%
RXO	-1.74%	-0.44%	-0.22%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

84.8% of Matson shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.7% of RXO shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.5% of Matson shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of RXO shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Matson and RXO”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Matson	$3.34 billion	1.56	$444.80 million	$13.94	12.27
RXO	$5.74 billion	0.47	-$100.00 million	($0.58)	-28.02

Matson has higher earnings, but lower revenue than RXO. RXO is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Matson, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Matson and RXO, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Matson	0	4	2	0	2.33
RXO	3	10	3	0	2.00

Matson presently has a consensus target price of $156.25, indicating a potential downside of 8.68%. RXO has a consensus target price of $15.77, indicating a potential downside of 2.96%. Given RXO’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe RXO is more favorable than Matson.

Summary

Matson beats RXO on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Matson

Matson, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of ocean transportation and logistics services. It operates through two segments, Ocean Transportation and Logistics. The Ocean Transportation segment offers ocean freight transportation services to the domestic non-contiguous economies of Hawaii, Japan, Alaska, and Guam, as well as to other island economies in Micronesia. It primarily transports dry containers of mixed commodities, refrigerated commodities, food products, beverages, building materials, automobiles, and household goods; livestock; seafood; general sustenance cargo; and garments, footwear, e-commerce, and other retail merchandise. This segment also operates an expedited service from China to Long Beach, California, and various islands in the South Pacific, as well as Okinawa, Japan; and provides stevedoring, refrigerated cargo services, inland transportation, container equipment maintenance, and other terminal services to ocean carriers on the Hawaiian islands of Oahu, Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai, as well as in the Alaska locations of Anchorage, Kodiak, and Dutch Harbor. In addition, it offers vessel management and container transshipment services. The Logistics segment provides multimodal transportation brokerage services, including domestic and international rail intermodal, long-haul and regional highway trucking, specialized hauling, flat-bed and project, less-than-truckload, and expedited freight services; less-than-container load consolidation and freight forwarding services; warehousing and distribution services; supply chain management services, and non-vessel operating common carrier freight forwarding services. It serves the U.S. military, freight forwarders, retailers, consumer goods, automobile manufacturers, and other customers. The company was formerly known as Alexander & Baldwin Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to Matson, Inc. in June 2012. Matson, Inc. was founded in 1882 and is headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii.

About RXO

RXO, Inc. provides full truckload freight transportation brokering services. It also offers brokered services for managed transportation, last mile, and freight forwarding. The company was incorporated in 2022 and is based in Charlotte, North Carolina.