Analyzing Expeditors International of Washington (NASDAQ:EXPD) and Forward Air Corporation (FWRD)

Expeditors International of Washington (NASDAQ: EXPD) and Forward Air Corporation (NASDAQ:FWRD) are both transportation companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, profitabiliy, institutional ownership and earnings.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Expeditors International of Washington and Forward Air Corporation, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Expeditors International of Washington	2	5	2	0	2.00
Forward Air Corporation	0	4	1	0	2.20

Expeditors International of Washington currently has a consensus target price of $57.25, suggesting a potential downside of 2.98%. Forward Air Corporation has a consensus target price of $47.00, suggesting a potential downside of 12.31%. Given Expeditors International of Washington’s higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Expeditors International of Washington is more favorable than Forward Air Corporation.

Volatility and Risk

Expeditors International of Washington has a beta of 0.64, suggesting that its stock price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Forward Air Corporation has a beta of 1.07, suggesting that its stock price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Expeditors International of Washington pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Forward Air Corporation pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Expeditors International of Washington pays out 35.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Forward Air Corporation pays out 63.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Expeditors International of Washington has raised its dividend for 22 consecutive years. Expeditors International of Washington is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares Expeditors International of Washington and Forward Air Corporation’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Expeditors International of Washington	6.87%	23.01%	15.25%
Forward Air Corporation	2.88%	13.06%	10.11%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

94.1% of Expeditors International of Washington shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.2% of Forward Air Corporation shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of Expeditors International of Washington shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.4% of Forward Air Corporation shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Expeditors International of Washington and Forward Air Corporation’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Expeditors International of Washington	$6.22 billion	1.71	$711.85 million	$2.35	25.11
Forward Air Corporation	$999.96 million	1.62	$141.81 million	$0.95	56.42

Expeditors International of Washington has higher revenue and earnings than Forward Air Corporation. Expeditors International of Washington is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Forward Air Corporation, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Expeditors International of Washington beats Forward Air Corporation on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

Expeditors International of Washington Company Profile

Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. is a logistics company. The Company is a third-party logistics provider, and purchases cargo space from carriers, including airlines and ocean shipping lines on a volume basis and resells that space to its customers. The Company provides a range of customer solutions, such as order management, time-definite transportation, warehousing and distribution, temperature-controlled transit, cargo insurance and customized logistics solutions. In addition, the Company’s Project Cargo unit handles special project shipments that move through a single method or combination of air, ocean, and/or ground transportation. The Company’s services include airfreight services, ocean freight and ocean services, and customs brokerage and other services. The Company operates along five geographic areas: the Americas; North Asia; South Asia; Europe, and the Middle East, Africa and India.

Forward Air Corporation Company Profile

Forward Air Corporation is a freight and logistics company. The Company provides less-than-truckload (LTL), truckload, intermodal and pool distribution services across the United States and in Canada. The Company’s segments include Expedited LTL, Truckload Premium Services (TLS), Intermodal and Pool Distribution. Expedited LTL segment provides expedited regional, inter-regional and national LTL services. TLS segment is a provider of transportation management services, including, but not limited to, expedited truckload brokerage, fleet services, as well as security and temperature-controlled logistics services in the United States and Canada. Intermodal offers first- and last-mile transportation of freight both to and from seaports and railheads through fleet and third party transportation providers. Pool distribution involves managing high-frequency handling and distribution of time-sensitive product to numerous destinations in specific geographic regions.