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ARCB vs. HTLD: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors interested in Transportation - Truck stocks are likely familiar with ArcBest (ARCB - Free Report) and Heartland Express (HTLD - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's take a closer look.

The best way to find great value stocks is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Currently, ArcBest has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while Heartland Express has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy). The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that ARCB has an improving earnings outlook. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

Value investors also tend to look at a number of traditional, tried-and-true figures to help them find stocks that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels.

Our Value category highlights undervalued companies by looking at a variety of key metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, as well as the P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that have been used by value investors for years.

ARCB currently has a forward P/E ratio of 8.92, while HTLD has a forward P/E of 19.41. We also note that ARCB has a PEG ratio of 0.21. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. HTLD currently has a PEG ratio of 1.29.

Another notable valuation metric for ARCB is its P/B ratio of 1.26. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, HTLD has a P/B of 2.52.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to ARCB's Value grade of A and HTLD's Value grade of C.

ARCB stands above HTLD thanks to its solid earnings outlook, and based on these valuation figures, we also feel that ARCB is the superior value option right now.


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Heartland Express, Inc. (HTLD) - free report >>

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