Reviewing Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) and Cargojet (OTCMKTS:CGJTF)

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) and Cargojet (OTCMKTS:CGJTF) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Forward Air and Cargojet, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Forward Air	1	1	3	0	2.40
Cargojet	0	1	2	0	2.67

Forward Air currently has a consensus target price of $28.00, suggesting a potential upside of 83.61%. Given Forward Air’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Forward Air is more favorable than Cargojet.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Forward Air and Cargojet”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Forward Air	$2.50 billion	0.19	-$107.80 million	($8.90)	-1.71
Cargojet	$710.45 million	1.31	$57.40 million	$1.97	31.62

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

97.0% of Forward Air shares are owned by institutional investors. 15.7% of Forward Air shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Forward Air and Cargojet’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Forward Air	-11.37%	-19.49%	-0.66%
Cargojet	4.48%	6.75%	2.40%

Summary

Cargojet beats Forward Air on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Forward Air

Forward Air Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an asset-light freight and logistics company in the United States and Canada. It operates in two segments, Expedited Freight and Intermodal. The Expedited Freight segment provides expedited regional, inter-regional, and national less-than-truckload services; local pick-up and delivery services; and other services, which include shipment consolidation and deconsolidation, warehousing, customs brokerage, and other handling. This segment offers expedited truckload brokerage, dedicated fleet, and high security and temperature-controlled logistics services. The Intermodal segment provides intermodal container drayage services; and contract and container freight station warehouse and handling services. It serves freight forwarders, third-party logistics companies, integrated air cargo carriers and passenger, passenger and cargo airlines, steamship lines, and retailers. Forward Air Corporation was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Greeneville, Tennessee.

About Cargojet

Cargojet Inc. provides time sensitive overnight air cargo services and carriers in Canada. It operates domestic air cargo network services between 16 Canadian cities; and provides dedicated aircraft to customers on an aircraft, crew, maintenance, and insurance basis operating between points in Canada, North and South America, and Europe. The company operates scheduled international routes for various cargo customers between the United States and Bermuda; and between Canada, the United Kingdom, and Germany. In addition, it offers aircraft to customers on an ad hoc charter basis operating between points in Canada, the United States, and other international destinations; and specialty charter services for livestock shipments, military equipment movements, emergency relief supplies, and virtually large shipments across North America, South America, the Caribbean, and Europe. Further, the company is involved in the aircraft operation and maintenance, flight planning and dispatch, crew planning and training, ground handling, and commercial airline cargo management businesses. The company operates a fleet of 41 aircraft. Cargojet Inc. was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Mississauga, Canada.