Investors hope Forward Air
What analysts say:
- Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts strongly back Forward Air, with eight of 13 rating it a buy and the remainder rating it a hold. Analysts like Forward Air better than competitor Synovus overall. Wall Street has warmed to the stock over the past three months, with analysts increasing their endorsement from hold to a moderate buy.
- Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $136 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 11.4% from the year-ago quarter.
- Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.37 per share. Estimates range from $0.33 cents to $0.38.
What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly behind the stock, with 91.2% assigning it an "outperform" rating. The community at large backs the All-Stars, with 89.5% giving it a rating of "outperform." Fools are bullish on Forward Air, though the message boards have been quiet lately, with only 43 posts in the past 30 days. Despite the majority sentiment in favor of Forward Air, the stock has a middling CAPS rating of three out of five stars.
Management:
Forward Air's profit has risen year over year by an average of more than twofold.
Now let's look at how efficient management is at running the business. Traditionally, margins represent the efficiency with which companies capture portions of sales dollars. The following table shows gross, operating, and net margins over the past four quarters.
| Quarter | Q1 | Q4 | Q3 | Q2 |
| Gross Margin | 42.5% | 44.8% | 44.5% | 44.1% |
| Operating Margin | 11.1% | 14% | 12.8% | 11.1% |
| Net Margin | 6.5% | 8.9% | 7.3% | 6.5% |
