Contrasting ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) & Avis Budget Group (NASDAQ:CAR)

Avis Budget Group (NASDAQ:CAR) and ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) are both mid-cap industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations and risk.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Avis Budget Group and ArcBest”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Avis Budget Group	$11.65 billion	0.33	-$889.00 million	($18.17)	-5.96
ArcBest	$4.01 billion	0.70	$60.10 million	$0.69	181.39

ArcBest has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Avis Budget Group. Avis Budget Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than ArcBest, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Avis Budget Group and ArcBest’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Avis Budget Group	-5.43%	N/A	-0.37%
ArcBest	0.39%	7.92%	4.15%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

96.3% of Avis Budget Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.3% of ArcBest shares are owned by institutional investors. 50.5% of Avis Budget Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of ArcBest shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

Avis Budget Group has a beta of 1.91, meaning that its share price is 91% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ArcBest has a beta of 1.55, meaning that its share price is 55% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Avis Budget Group and ArcBest, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Avis Budget Group	3	6	0	0	1.67
ArcBest	0	7	7	1	2.60

Avis Budget Group presently has a consensus target price of $135.00, indicating a potential upside of 24.67%. ArcBest has a consensus target price of $154.23, indicating a potential upside of 23.23%. Given Avis Budget Group’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Avis Budget Group is more favorable than ArcBest.

Summary

ArcBest beats Avis Budget Group on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Avis Budget Group

Avis Budget Group, Inc. engages in the provision of vehicle sharing and rental services. It operates through the following segments: Americas, International, and Corporate and Other. The Americas segment includes the vehicle rental and car sharing operations in North America, South America, Central America, and the Caribbean. The International segment is involved in the vehicle rental and car sharing operations in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Australasia. The company was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in Parsippany, NJ.

About ArcBest

ArcBest Corporation, an integrated logistics company, engages in the provision of ground, air, and ocean transportation solutions. It operates through two segments: Asset-Based and Asset-Light. The Asset-Based segment provides less-than-truckload (LTL) services, that transports general commodities, such as food, textiles, apparel, furniture, appliances, chemicals, non-bulk petroleum products, rubber, plastics, metal and metal products, wood, glass, automotive parts, machinery, and miscellaneous manufactured products. The segment also offers motor carrier freight transportation services to customers in Mexico through arrangements with trucking companies. The Asset-Light segment provides ground expedite services; third-party transportation brokerage services by sourcing various capacity solutions, including dry van over-the-road, temperature-controlled and refrigerated, flatbed, intermodal or container shipping, and specialized equipment; less-than- and full container load ocean transportation services; warehousing and distribution services; managed transportation services; and moving services to do-it-yourself' consumer, as well as provides final mile, time critical, product launch, retail logistics, supply chain optimization, and trade show shipping services. This segment also offers premium logistics services, such as deployment of specialized equipment to meet linehaul requirements; international freight transportation with air, ocean, and ground services; and engages in the final mile, time-critical, product launch, retail logistics, supply chain optimization, brokered LTL, and trade show shipping activities. The company was formerly known as Arkansas Best Corporation and changed its name to ArcBest Corporation in May 2014. ArcBest Corporation was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in Fort Smith, Arkansas.