Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Alexandra Esparza
MBA Candidate at the Yale School of Management,
May 4, 2016
Company Background
Staying Power: Founded by Schoen family in 1945
Largest DIY mover in the US, with ~ 50% market share; one of the largest
storage players nationally as well
High brand recognition; name synonymous with moving
Focused on improving core DIY business and track record of execution
Business Segments
Moving and Storage: comprised of AMERCO, U-Haul, and Real
Estate and the subsidiaries of U- Haul and Real Estate
Property and Casualty Insurance/ Repwest
Life Insurance, comprised of Oxford and its subsidiaries
Key Metrics
Market
Cap:
$6.90B
P/E
~14x
on
Consensus
Fiscal
Year
16
Generated
$22.74
in
the
12
months
ending
12/31/2015,
trailing
PE
of
15.61
LTM
EV/EBITDA
of
0.24
Thinly
traded
(average
3
month
volume
is
60k
shares
per
day)
3 year CAGR of 7%
Earnings in 9 months ended 12/31/15 up 25.6% y/y
Margin Expansion since 2010 and ongoing: EBITDA Margin +33% in 2015, +36% in LTM; Profit
margin ~14% in LTM
Founding family has ~50% stake, speaks to skin in the game, have been able to execute
Relatively clean balance sheet, and a special dividend every year since 2011
Source:AMERCO
Competitive moat from largest network, bestof-breed product, entrenched brand awareness
and goodwill.
U-Haul especially practical for short-distance moves in in urban environments, where millennials
tend to live.
Way for the consumer to save money, but brand isnt just a low-end solution
Ongoing negative customer perception of big moving companies/brokers/carriers, strong brand is
reassuring to this demographic first in Google search for moving truck
Engaging millennial users with Instagram truck graphics campaign; improves the user experience and promotes
brand awareness in a very effective and clever way
Convenience:
Consumers are generally ignorant about the moving industry, too many options, lots of
scams, unwilling to do research
Preference for known, safe brand
Moving is a huge pain-point, and the most seamless experience wins
Point of Sale supply purchases; one-stop experience
Pricing:
Packing supplies are cheaper vs. competitors, and experience significantly cheaper vs. fullservice movers
Still, U-Haul can afford a high markup on supplies
Other Businesses
Oxford Life Insurance caters to aging boomer demographic
AMERCO Real Estate Company manages the storage units
Repwest - Property and Casualty Insurance serves moving
consumers
Strong cross-selling platform at point-of-sale
2012
8.48%
11.33%
2013
5.32%
13.61%
2014
10.63%
19.08%
4.03%
5.12%
34.09%
6.28%
17.22%
3.40%
4.78%
-35.83%
5.24%
12.71%
5.91%
0.47%
-11.34%
19.54%
-4.00%
Other
Revenue
Totals
41.49%
11.58%
24.22%
1.85%
64.83%
10.81%
2015
9.77%
16.14%
4.27%
3.46%
-1.15%
13.16%
6.45%
-0.37%
8.44%
17x on FY17 yields price target of $502/share, plus potential for other
corporate actions
*Ending 3/15/17
Catalysts
Additional Wall Street coverage, re-rating, greater visibility of the
company
Potential opportunity to spin-off real estate assets or insurance
businesses
Spin-real estate into REIT, but maintain operating benefits (potentially
analogous to recent DRI/FCPT spin)
Risks
Slowdown in moving or homebuilding generally
Americans overall may be moving for jobs less, and Millennials
may not ultimately move out of cities as they form households
Disruptive tech-driven innovation in the logistics space by
competitors
High concentration of family ownership and thin volume