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Are These Transportation Stocks Undervalued Right Now?

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Here at Zacks, our focus is on the proven Zacks Rank system, which emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find great stocks. Nevertheless, we are always paying attention to the latest value, growth, and momentum trends to underscore strong picks.

Of these, perhaps no stock market trend is more popular than value investing, which is a strategy that has proven to be successful in all sorts of market environments. Value investors rely on traditional forms of analysis on key valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are undervalued, leaving room for profits.

Zacks has developed the innovative Style Scores system to highlight stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will be interested in stocks with great grades in the "Value" category. When paired with a high Zacks Rank, "A" grades in the Value category are among the strongest value stocks on the market today.

ArcBest (ARCB - Free Report) is a stock many investors are watching right now. ARCB is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), as well as an A grade for Value. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 8.85, while its industry has an average P/E of 19.08. ARCB's Forward P/E has been as high as 97.24 and as low as 8.09, with a median of 12.12, all within the past year.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is ARCB's P/B ratio of 2.55. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This stock's P/B looks attractive against its industry's average P/B of 3.93. Within the past 52 weeks, ARCB's P/B has been as high as 3.30 and as low as 1.53, with a median of 2.25.

Value investors also love the P/S ratio, which is calculated by simply dividing a stock's price with the company's sales. This is a popular metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement, so they are often considered a better performance indicator. ARCB has a P/S ratio of 0.56. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.28.

Finally, our model also underscores that ARCB has a P/CF ratio of 7.26. This metric focuses on a firm's operating cash flow and is often used to find stocks that are undervalued based on the strength of their cash outlook. ARCB's P/CF compares to its industry's average P/CF of 14.44. Over the past year, ARCB's P/CF has been as high as 11.47 and as low as 5.59, with a median of 8.07.

If you're looking for another solid Transportation - Truck value stock, take a look at USA Truck . USAK is a # 1 (Strong Buy) stock with a Value score of A.

USA Truck also has a P/B ratio of 1.94 compared to its industry's price-to-book ratio of 3.93. Over the past year, its P/B ratio has been as high as 2.27, as low as 1.25, with a median of 1.58.

These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that ArcBest and USA Truck are likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, ARCB and USAK feels like a great value stock at the moment.


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