Analyzing Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) and Pamt (NASDAQ:PAMT)

Pamt (NASDAQ:PAMT) and Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) are both small-cap transportation companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, dividends and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares Pamt and Heartland Express’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Pamt	-4.45%	-2.58%	-1.07%
Heartland Express	-2.84%	-3.57%	-2.14%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

22.1% of Pamt shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 53.5% of Heartland Express shares are owned by institutional investors. 27.2% of Pamt shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 39.6% of Heartland Express shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Pamt has a beta of 1.15, meaning that its stock price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Heartland Express has a beta of 0.8, meaning that its stock price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Pamt and Heartland Express, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Pamt	0	1	0	0	2.00
Heartland Express	2	1	0	0	1.33

Pamt presently has a consensus target price of $16.50, indicating a potential upside of 34.47%. Heartland Express has a consensus target price of $11.00, indicating a potential upside of 16.90%. Given Pamt’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Pamt is more favorable than Heartland Express.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Pamt and Heartland Express”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Pamt	$714.65 million	0.37	-$31.80 million	($1.46)	-8.40
Heartland Express	$1.05 billion	0.71	-$29.72 million	($0.37)	-25.43

Heartland Express has higher revenue and earnings than Pamt. Heartland Express is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Pamt, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Heartland Express beats Pamt on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Pamt

PAMT Corp. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of truckload and logistics services through its subsidiaries. Its freight consists primarily of automotive parts, expedited goods, consumer goods, such as general retail store merchandise, and manufactured goods, such as heating and air conditioning units. The company was founded in June 1986 and is headquartered in Tontitown, AR.

About Heartland Express

Heartland Express, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a short-to-medium, and long-haul truckload carrier in the United States and Canada. It primarily provides nationwide asset-based dry van truckload service for shippers; cross-border freight and other transportation services; and temperature-controlled truckload services. The company offers its services under the Heartland Express and Millis Transfer brand names. It primarily serves retailers and manufacturers in consumer goods, appliances, food products, and automotive industries. The company was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in North Liberty, Iowa.