Sifting through countless of stocks in the Ground Transportation industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in Union Pacific Corporation or Canadian National Railway Company because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how Union Pacific Corporation and Canadian National Railway Company compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Union Pacific Corporation and Canadian National Railway Company

Union Pacific Corporation, through its subsidiary, Union Pacific Railroad Company, operates in the railroad business in the United States. It offers transportation services for grain and grain products, fertilizers, food and refrigerated products, and coal and renewables to grain processors, animal feeders, and ethanol and renewable biofuel producers; and construction products, industrial chemicals, plastics, forest products, specialized products, metals and ores, petroleum, liquid petroleum gases, soda ash, and sand, as well as finished automobiles, automotive parts, and merchandise in intermodal containers. The company was founded in 1862 and is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska.

Canadian National Railway Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the rail, intermodal, trucking, and related transportation businesses in Canada and the United States. The company provides rail services, which include equipment, customs brokerage, transloading and warehousing, business development, dimensional loads, and private railcar storage, less-than-truckload, and mexico services; intermodal services, such as temperature controlled multimodal, mobile transport trays, port partnerships, transloading and distribution, logistics parks, trucking, and supply chain services. It also offers connecting to rail, short lines, maps and network services. The company serves automotive, coal, fertilizers, temperature controlled cargo, forest products, dimensional, grain, metal and minerals, petroleum and chemicals, consumer goods, and third party logistics applications. Canadian National Railway Company was incorporated in 1919 and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada.

Latest Ground Transportation and Union Pacific Corporation, Canadian National Railway Company Stock News

As of May 12, 2026, Union Pacific Corporation had a $157.7 billion market capitalization, compared to the Ground Transportation median of $5.3 million. Union Pacific Corporation’s stock is up 14.4% in 2026, down 1.4% in the previous five trading days and up 22.78% in the past year.

Currently, Union Pacific Corporation’s price-earnings ratio is 21.9. Union Pacific Corporation’s trailing 12-month revenue is $24.7 billion with a 29.2% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 3.2%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $12.573 per share for the current fiscal year. Union Pacific Corporation currently has a 2.1% dividend yield.

As of May 12, 2026, Canadian National Railway Company had a $68.0 billion market cap, putting it in the 95th percentile of all stocks. Canadian National Railway Company’s stock is up 13.7% in 2026, up 0.2% in the previous five trading days and up 11.51% in the past year.

Currently, Canadian National Railway Company’s price-earnings ratio is 20.6. Canadian National Railway Company’s trailing 12-month revenue is $12.4 billion with a 27.2% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 2.4%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $5.721 per share for the current fiscal year. Canadian National Railway Company currently has a 3.3% dividend yield.

How We Compare Union Pacific Corporation and Canadian National Railway Company Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at Union Pacific Corporation and Canadian National Railway Company’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Union Pacific Corporation and Canadian National Railway Company Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
Union Pacific Corporation	UNP	D
Canadian National Railway Company	CNI	D

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection.

Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade derives from a stock’s value score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are a good value and so on.

Union Pacific Corporation has a Value Score of 23, which is Expensive. Canadian National Railway Company has a Value Score of 32, which is Expensive.

The Value Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Union Pacific Corporation or Canadian National Railway Company has a high enough value grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors who are considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolio. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if Union Pacific Corporation or Canadian National Railway Company is the better investment when it comes to value.

Union Pacific Corporation and Canadian National Railway Company Growth Grades

Company	Ticker	Growth
Union Pacific Corporation	UNP	B
Canadian National Railway Company	CNI	B

The foundation of growth investing is seeking out stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth that is expected to continue into the future.

In order to compute the growth score and assign it a letter grade, the percentile ranks for each of three components‐consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations‐must be determined. These three rank figures are added together, and the sum is ranked against the entire stock universe to arrive at a company’s Growth Score to create an equal distribution of grades.

The companies in the bottom 20% of the stock universe receive Growth Grades of F, considered to be very weak, while those in the top 20% receive A grades, which are considered very strong.

Union Pacific Corporation has a Growth Score of 74, which is Strong. Canadian National Railway Company has a Growth Score of 74, which is Strong.

The Growth Grade Winner: It’s a Tie!

Looking at the Growth Grade breakdown above, both Union Pacific Corporation and Canadian National Railway Company have a grade of B. For investors who focus solely on a company’s upward growth, further research should be conducted into both companies’ other financial metrics before deciding whether to invest.

Union Pacific Corporation and Canadian National Railway Company’s Quality Grades

Company	Ticker	Quality
Union Pacific Corporation	UNP	A
Canadian National Railway Company	CNI	B

Like the Value Grade, AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the percentile rank of key metrics. Specifically, the Quality Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and the F-Score.

The score is variable, meaning it can consider all eight measures or, should any of the eight measures not be valid, the remaining measures that are valid. To be assigned a Quality Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures.

The Quality Score is used to assess the underlying “quality” of a particular stock. A higher-quality stock possesses traits associated with upside potential and reduced downside risk. Backtesting of the Quality Grade shows that stocks with higher grades, on average, outperformed stocks with lower grades over the period of 1998 through 2019.

Stocks receive better grades (higher scores) for having higher scores for the quality subcomponents and worse grades (lower scores) for lower scores for the subcomponents.

Union Pacific Corporation has a Quality Score of 93, which is Very Strong. Canadian National Railway Company has a Quality Score of 67, which is Strong.

The Quality Grade Winner: Union Pacific Corporation

As you can clearly see from the Quality Grade breakdown above, Union Pacific Corporation has a better overall quality grade than Canadian National Railway Company. For investors who are looking for companies with higher quality than others in the same industry, Union Pacific Corporation could be a good stock to add to their portfolios. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Other Union Pacific Corporation and Canadian National Railway Company Grades

In addition to Quality, Growth and Value, A+ Investor also provides grades for Momentum and Estimate Revisions.

Momentum grades help uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming.

Earnings estimate revisions scores take into account the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, surprises beget further surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether Union Pacific Corporation and Canadian National Railway Company pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Union Pacific Corporation or Canadian National Railway Company Stock?

Overall, Union Pacific Corporation stock has a Value Score of 23, Growth Score of 74 and Quality Score of 93.

Canadian National Railway Company stock has a Value Score of 32, Growth Score of 74 and Quality Score of 67.

Comparing Union Pacific Corporation and Canadian National Railway Company’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.