Comparing Element Fleet Management (OTCMKTS:ELEEF) & HNI (NYSE:HNI)

Element Fleet Management (OTCMKTS:ELEEF) and HNI (NYSE:HNI) are both mid-cap industrials companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Dividends

Element Fleet Management pays an annual dividend of $0.43 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. HNI pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Element Fleet Management pays out 58.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. HNI pays out 1,555.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. HNI has increased its dividend for 15 consecutive years. HNI is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Element Fleet Management and HNI”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Element Fleet Management	$1.19 billion	4.95	$279.13 million	$0.74	20.27
HNI	$4.39 billion	0.77	$54.20 million	$0.09	517.89

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

75.3% of HNI shares are held by institutional investors. 2.1% of HNI shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Element Fleet Management and HNI’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Element Fleet Management	23.33%	24.75%	3.91%
HNI	0.10%	13.66%	5.23%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Element Fleet Management and HNI, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Element Fleet Management	0	0	2	1	3.33
HNI	0	1	1	0	2.50

HNI has a consensus target price of $65.00, indicating a potential upside of 39.46%. Given HNI’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe HNI is more favorable than Element Fleet Management.

Summary

Element Fleet Management beats HNI on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Element Fleet Management

Element Fleet Management Corp. operates as a fleet management company primarily in Canada, Mexico, Australia, and New Zealand. The company offers end-to-end fleet cars, trucks, and material handling support equipment acquisition; and end-to-end electric vehicle fleet including fleet planning, charging infrastructure solutions, acquisition, financing, maintenance, and remarketing. It provides commercial fleet financing comprising operating and capital lease, sale and leaseback funding, loans, rental fleet financing, client owned acquisition program, and fair market value lease for fleet cars, trucks, and equipment; and vehicle licensing and registration services, such as renewal, fleet title management, and insurance card management services. In addition, the company provides collision management services, such as 24/7 driver assistance, collision evaluation, repair management, and subrogation; fleet management outsourcing solutions; fuel, maintenance, and safety solutions; telematics and fleet connectivity solutions; and toll and violation management, as well as fleet remarketing, sale leaseback, and strategic fleet management consulting services. It serves construction, energy, oil and gas, food and beverages, healthcare, services, and transport sectors. Element Fleet Management Corp. was incorporated in 2007 and is based in Toronto, Canada.

About HNI

HNI Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture, sale, and marketing of workplace furnishings and residential building products primarily in the United States and Canada. The company operates through two segments, Workplace Furnishings and Residential Building Products. The Workplace Furnishings segment offers a range of commercial and home office furniture, including panel-based and freestanding furniture systems, seating, storage, benching, tables, architectural products, and ancillary and hospitality products, as well as social collaborative items under the HON, Allsteel, Beyond, Gunlocke, HBF, HBF Textiles, HNI India, Kimball, National, Etc., Interwoven, David Edward, Kimball Hospitality, and D'style brands. This segment sells its products through independent office products dealers, wholesalers, office product distributors, e-commerce focused resellers, and wholesalers, as well as directly to end-user customers and governments. The Residential Building Products segment provides various gas, wood, electric, and pellet-fueled prefabricated fireplaces; and inserts, hearth stoves, facings, outdoor fire pits and fire tables, and accessories. This segment sells its products primarily for home use under the Heatilator, Heat & Glo, Majestic, Monessen, Quadra-Fire, Harman, Vermont Castings, PelPro, Stellar, SimpliFire, The Outdoor GreatRoom Company, and Forge & Flame brand names through independent dealers and distributors, and corporation-owned distribution and retail outlets. The company was incorporated in 1944 and is headquartered in Muscatine, Iowa.