Contrasting ArcBest (ARCB) and Its Competitors

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) is one of 100 public companies in the “Ground Transportation” industry, but how does it contrast to its rivals? We will compare ArcBest to related companies based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, dividends and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for ArcBest and its rivals, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ArcBest	0	7	7	1	2.60
ArcBest Competitors	1372	6534	8697	267	2.47

ArcBest presently has a consensus price target of $153.54, suggesting a potential upside of 12.97%. As a group, “Ground Transportation” companies have a potential upside of 16.39%. Given ArcBest’s rivals higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe ArcBest has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

99.3% of ArcBest shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 59.5% of shares of all “Ground Transportation” companies are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of ArcBest shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 15.2% of shares of all “Ground Transportation” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares ArcBest and its rivals top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
ArcBest	$4.01 billion	$60.10 million	107.02
ArcBest Competitors	$9.21 billion	$911.04 million	0.59

ArcBest’s rivals have higher revenue and earnings than ArcBest. ArcBest is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Dividends

ArcBest pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. ArcBest pays out 37.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Ground Transportation” companies pay a dividend yield of 1.5% and pay out 26.9% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. ArcBest lags its rivals as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Volatility & Risk

ArcBest has a beta of 1.71, indicating that its share price is 71% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ArcBest’s rivals have a beta of 1.14, indicating that their average share price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares ArcBest and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ArcBest	0.66%	9.93%	5.19%
ArcBest Competitors	6.87%	12.61%	4.01%

Summary

ArcBest rivals beat ArcBest on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

About ArcBest

ArcBest Corporation is a transportation and logistics company headquartered in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Its services include less-than-truckload freight through ABF Freight, as well as truckload, expedited transportation, freight brokerage, managed transportation and other supply chain solutions. The company serves businesses across North America and supports shipments to and from international markets through its transportation and logistics network. ArcBest traces its roots to 1923, when its predecessor began providing freight transportation services in Arkansas.