We are contrasting Forward Air Corporation (NASDAQ:FWRD) and its peers on their dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, earnings and valuation. They are Air Delivery & Freight Services companies, competing one another.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

99.6% of Forward Air Corporation’s shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 62.10% of all Air Delivery & Freight Services’s companies shares are held by institutional investors. On other hand Forward Air Corporation has 1.1% of its shares held by company insiders vs. an average of 4.05% insiders ownership for its rivals.

Profitability

Table 1 has Forward Air Corporation and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Forward Air Corporation	6.91%	16.80%	12.60%
Industry Average	3.42%	35.24%	9.22%

Earnings and Valuation

The following data compares Forward Air Corporation and its rivals’ top-line revenue, net income and valuation.

	Net Income	Gross Revenue	Price/Earnings Ratio
Forward Air Corporation	91.17M	1.32B	19.99
Industry Average	426.39M	12.49B	35.18

Forward Air Corporation has lower revenue and P/E Ratio than its peers. The company has a lower price-to-earnings ratio which is currently more affordable in contrast to its rivals.

Analyst Ratings

Table 3 provides summary of recent ratings for Forward Air Corporation and its rivals.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Forward Air Corporation	0	1	0	2.00
Industry Average	2.00	3.00	3.71	2.56

Forward Air Corporation currently has an average price target of $67, suggesting a potential upside of 8.64%. The potential upside of the rivals is 58.89%. Based on the results shown earlier, Forward Air Corporation is looking more favorable than its peers, equities research analysts’ view.

Performance

In this table we provide the Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Half Yearly, Yearly and YTD Performance of Forward Air Corporation and its rivals.

	Performance (W)	Performance (M)	Performance (Q)	Performance (HY)	Performance (Y)	Performance (YTD)
Forward Air Corporation	-4.76%	6.95%	-2.72%	-2.19%	16.9%	14.13%
Industry Average	5.23%	11.73%	13.19%	14.13%	27.63%	21.16%

For the past year Forward Air Corporation’s stock price has smaller growth than the average for its rivals.

Liquidity

Forward Air Corporation has a Current Ratio of 2.7 and a Quick Ratio of 2.7. Competitively, Forward Air Corporation’s rivals Current Ratio is 1.98 and has 1.92 Quick Ratio. Forward Air Corporation has better ability to pay short and long-term obligations than Forward Air Corporation’s rivals.

Risk and Volatility

Forward Air Corporation has a beta of 1.63 and its 63.00% more volatile than S&P 500. Competitively, Forward Air Corporation’s peers are 49.75% more volatile than S&P 500, because of the 1.50 beta.

Dividends

The annual dividend that Forward Air Corporation pay is $0.63 per share with a dividend yield of 1.02%. On the other side, 1.90% is the dividend yield of Forward Air Corporation’s rivals.

Summary

On 7 of the 7 factors Forward Air Corporation’s rivals beat Forward Air Corporation.

Forward Air Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an asset-light freight and logistics company in the United State and Canada. The company operates through four segments: Expedited LTL, Truckload Premium Services (TLS), Intermodal, and Pool Distribution. The Expedited LTL segment provides expedited regional, inter-regional, and national less-than-truckload services, as well as local pick-up and delivery services. It also offers shipment consolidation and deconsolidation, warehousing, customs brokerage, and other handling services. This segment provides its transportation services through a network of terminals located at or near airports. The TLS segment offers expedited truckload brokerage, dedicated fleet, and high security and temperature-controlled logistics services. The Intermodal segment provides intermodal container drayage services, as well as contract, and container freight station warehouse and handling services. The Pool Distribution segment offers high-frequency handling and distribution of time-sensitive product to various destinations in geographic regions. Forward Air Corporation was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Greeneville, Tennessee.