There's a new company in the delisting crosshairs.

The Nasdaq exchange has informed YRC Worldwide (Nasdaq: YRCW) that its 180-day grace period is up. The trucking company has failed to get its stock above the $1 mark in that time, so the exchange is ready to give it the heave-ho.

There's no need to rush to the post office for "change of exchange" forms. This process will still take a little more time to play itself out. YRC will be meeting with Nasdaq OMX Group (Nasdaq: NDAQ) in a hearing next month. The exchange should have its final verdict by November.

This would normally be a cut-and-dry booting to the pink sheets, but YRC isn't as tiny as its share price suggests. There were nearly 1.1 billion shares outstanding at the end of the company's second quarter. In other words, even though the stock closed at $0.27 a share last night, YRC's market cap clocks in at an exchange-worthy $300 million. There are plenty of listed equities with far lower valuations. The leveraged company's balance sheet also packs $1.2 billion in debt, making YRC's enterprise value several times greater than its market cap.

In the end, this is all about tiny numerator perched atop a gargantuan denominator. All YRC has to do is execute a reverse split for this all to go away. It's a stupid controversy, really. Then again, so is the compliance requirement.

I argued the same thing when Sirius XM Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI) was barreling toward a hearing to save its exchange-listed hide earlier this year. It wasn't fair that one of the exchange's most actively traded stocks -- with one of its larger enterprise values -- was being forced to enter into a reverse split to continue trading on the Nasdaq system.

Sirius XM ultimately didn't need the hearing. The share price closed with a bid above $1 for 10 consecutive trading days, allowing the satellite-radio provider to take the exchange's delisting threats to the shredder.

Still, I would have loved to see Nasdaq squirm if it actually had to delist Sirius. YRC will probably test the exchange's mettle, because it's highly unlikely that the shares can quadruple over the next four weeks.  

YRC isn't presently profitable, but it is generating free cash flow. There are liquidity concerns, since a good chunk of its debt has current maturities.  However, trucking companies should be early winners in an economic recovery.

It's not my place to issue an ultimatum, but I dare Nasdaq OMX Group to pull the mudflaps from underneath YRC. Yes, profitability won't arrive until 2012 at the earliest, but this is still a company projected to generate $4.4 billion in revenue this year.

Similarly threatened companies, including Sirius and Rite Aid (NYSE: RAD), have been able to regain compliance the old-fashioned way. It just doesn't make sense for Nasdaq to boot companies based on share price alone. Judging companies by market cap instead seems like a far more rational idea.

Will Nasdaq really give YRC the boot later this year? Share your thoughts in the comment box below.