Reviewing Freightcar America (RAIL) and Its Rivals

Freightcar America (NASDAQ:RAIL) is one of 436 publicly-traded companies in the “Machinery” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare Freightcar America to related businesses based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability and valuation.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

32.0% of Freightcar America shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.8% of shares of all “Machinery” companies are held by institutional investors. 29.2% of Freightcar America shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 14.1% of shares of all “Machinery” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Freightcar America has a beta of 1.58, suggesting that its share price is 58% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Freightcar America’s competitors have a beta of 5.12, suggesting that their average share price is 412% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Freightcar America and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Freightcar America	-1.32%	-15.23%	-2.54%
Freightcar America Competitors	-1,035.51%	-36.25%	-0.27%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Freightcar America and its competitors revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Freightcar America	$500.99 million	$38.10 million	-17.16
Freightcar America Competitors	$4.78 billion	$361.11 million	6.35

Freightcar America’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Freightcar America. Freightcar America is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Freightcar America and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Freightcar America	2	0	0	0	1.00
Freightcar America Competitors	4214	14730	18258	809	2.41

As a group, “Machinery” companies have a potential upside of 30.43%. Given Freightcar America’s competitors stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Freightcar America has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Summary

Freightcar America competitors beat Freightcar America on 10 of the 13 factors compared.

Freightcar America Company Profile

FreightCar America, Inc. designs, manufactures and sells freight railcars and railcar parts. Its products include freight cars for transporting bulk commodities and other goods, with offerings that include hopper cars, gondolas and intermodal railcars. The company also provides railcar repair and refurbishment services, supporting customers throughout the life of their equipment. Its manufacturing and service operations serve the North American rail industry, with facilities in the United States and Mexico.