Yamato (OTCMKTS:YATRY) & Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) Head to Head Contrast

Yamato (OTCMKTS:YATRY) and Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, valuation and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares Yamato and Marten Transport’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Yamato	N/A	N/A	N/A
Marten Transport	5.31%	7.65%	5.77%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Yamato and Marten Transport, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Yamato	0	0	0	0	N/A
Marten Transport	0	0	2	0	3.00

Marten Transport has a consensus target price of $23.00, suggesting a potential upside of 31.88%. Given Marten Transport’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Marten Transport is more favorable than Yamato.

Dividends

Yamato pays an annual dividend of $12.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 92.7%. Marten Transport pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Yamato pays out 14.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Marten Transport pays out 33.8% 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. Yamato is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

0.0% of Yamato shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 69.1% of Marten Transport shares are held by institutional investors. 22.9% of Marten Transport shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Yamato and Marten Transport’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Yamato	N/A	N/A	N/A	$82.14	0.16
Marten Transport	$1.08 billion	1.31	$70.37 million	$0.71	24.56

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

Summary

Marten Transport beats Yamato on 9 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Yamato

Yamato Holdings Co., Ltd. provides logistics shipping services in Japan and internationally. It operates through Retail Business Unit, Corporate Business Unit, and Other segments. The Retail Business Unit segment provides small parcel delivery services for individuals and mid-to-small sized corporations. The Corporate Business Unit segment engages in the provision of transportation services for corporations; planning and operation of logistics centers; provision of customs services; and provision of air cargo agency services. The Other segment develops and operates IT systems; offers car maintenance services; sells fuel; offers non-life insurance agency services; and provides cargo vehicle transportation services. The company was founded in 1919 and is headquartered in Chuo, Japan.

About Marten Transport

Marten Transport, Ltd. operates as a temperature-sensitive truckload carrier for shippers in the United State, Mexico, and Canada. The company operates through four segments: Truckload, Dedicated, Intermodal, and Brokerage. The Truckload segment transports food and other consumer packaged goods that require a temperature-controlled or insulated environment, as well as dry freight; and regional short-haul and medium-to-long-haul full-load transportation services. The Dedicated segment offers customized transportation solutions for individual customers' requirements using temperature-controlled trailers, dry vans, and other specialized equipment. The Intermodal segment transports customers' freight utilizing its refrigerated containers and temperature-controlled trailers on railroad flatcars for portions of trips, as well as using tractors and contracted carriers. The Brokerage segment develops contractual relationships with and arranges for third-party carriers to transport freight for customers in temperature-controlled trailers and dry vans. As of December 31, 2023, the company operated a fleet of 3,349 tractors, that included 3,255 company-owned tractors and 94 tractors supplied by independent contractors. Marten Transport, Ltd. was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in Mondovi, Wisconsin.