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Transportation Sector's Biggest Movers for June 29, 2012
The Nasdaq has risen 2.4%, the S&P 500 has moved up 1.9% and the Dow is trading up 1.7% on a good day for the market so far. The transportation sector is a category of stocks relating to the transportation of goods or customers. It is made up of airlines, railroads and trucking companies. The performance of the transportation sector is sensitive to the price of oil. Because operations revolve around the use of vehicles, fuel prices represent a significant cost to transportation companies. As the price of oil rises, transportation companies will be expected to earn less. Inversely, these companies do well when the cost of fuel decreases.
The Transportation sector (IYT) is up 2%, underperforming the market overall. The biggest movers in the sector are currently:
Forex Broker Summary: UFXMarkets
Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings (Nasdaq:AAWW) is currently trading at $42.96 per share, a 5.6% increase. The company's volume is currently 55,413 shares. This is below yesterday's volume of 145,949 shares. Volume is also used as a secondary indicator to help confirm what the price movement is suggesting. There are many tools investors can use to evaluate a stock, including margins. Margins, quite simply, are earnings expressed as a ratio, or a percentage of sales, and this allows investors to compare the profitability of different companies, while net earnings, which are presented as an absolute number, cannot. AAWW's gross profit margin is 44.2%. The operating profit margin indicates how much EBIT is generated per dollar of sales. Operating profit margin for AAWW is 14.9%. Net profit margins are those generated from all phases of a business, including taxes. Net profit margin for the company is 6.7%.
Investment valuation ratios can be very useful in determining the value of a stock, but it is very important to keep in mind that while some financial ratios have general rules (or a broad application), in most instances it is a prudent practice to look at a company's historical performance and use peer company/industry comparisons to put any given company's ratio in perspective. The debt ratio gives users a quick measure of the amount of debt that the company has on its balance sheets compared to its assets. The debt ratio for AAWW is 52.3%. However, one thing to note with this ratio: it isn't a pure measure of a company's debt (or indebtedness), as it also includes operational liabilities, such as accounts payable and taxes payable.
Con Way (NYSE:CNW) is up 4.7% to reach a current price of $36.29 per share. So far today, the company's volume is 208,072 shares, 0.2 times its current daily average. High volume indicates a lot of investor interest while low volume indicates the opposite. Profit-margin ratios measure how much money a company squeezes from its total revenue or total sales. Investors can look at a company's gross profit margin, operating profit margin and net margin to understand a company's profitability. The gross profit margin for CNW is 61.1%. CNW's operating margin of 4.1% and net margin of 2% are high relative to its gross margin.
Valuation ratios like the price to earnings (P/E) ratio, the price to earnings growth (PEG) ratio, the price to sales (P/S) ratio, the price to book (P/B) ratio, and the dividend yield are useful in determining how attractive a potential or existing investment is. The price/earnings to growth (PEG) ratio is calculated by dividing the price/earnings ratio by growth in earnings-per-share; the lower the PEG ratio, the more reasonably valued the security. PEG ratio for CNW is consistent with the industry average at 1.36. Because of the adjustment for earnings growth rate, the PEG ratio is somewhat more useful than many formulas for comparing companies in different industries.
Air (Nasdaq:AIRM) has risen 3.2% to hit a current price of $97.90 per share. The company's volume for the day so far is 61,346 shares. Volume is also used as a secondary indicator to help confirm what the price movement is suggesting. Margin analysis tells us how effectively management can wring profits from sales and how much room a company has to withstand a downturn, fend off competition and make mistakes. AIRM's gross profit margin is 40%. All else being equal, investors should feel more confident investing in a company with a high operating margin than one with a low operating margin. AIRM has an operating profit margin of 13.1%. Ideally, a company's profit margin should be stable or rising; declining profit margin should be cause for concern or further investigation. The company has a net profit margin of 7.4%.
A company's investment value can be estimated using valuation ratios such as the price to earnings (P/E) ratio, the price to earnings growth (PEG) ratio, the price to sales (P/S) ratio, the price to book (P/B) ratio, and the dividend yield. One of the favorite tools of many value investors is analyzing price/book value ratios, as it provides a measure of the underlying value of a company's assets as compared to the valuation of its equity. AIRM has a P/B ratio of 4.13 which shows that its share price is higher than its book value. This may be a sign that the company is overvalued. Users need to be careful when applying this ratio though, as it is more useful for industrial companies that have a lot of tangible assets than it is for technology or consumer product companies that may not have much in the way of hard assets. SEE: Investment Valuation Ratios: Price/Book Value Ratio
CH Robinson (Nasdaq:CHRW) has moved up 2.9% and is currently trading at $58.29 per share. The company's volume for the day so far is 260,429 share, 0.2 times its current three-month average. When a stock price moves up or down, watching the volume is a good way of identifying how significant that shift is. Margin ratios highlight companies that are worth further examination. CHRW has a low gross profit margin of 16.1%. Since gross profit margins tend to stay stable, sudden changes may indicate financial fraud, accounting irregularities or problems in the business. CHRW has an operating profit margin of 6.6% and a net profit margin of 4.2%, both low compared to its gross profit margin.
While investment valuation ratios are useful tools in estimating the attractiveness of an investment, remember that it is important to look at a company's historical performance and compare the company ratios with its competitors and industry overall. The dividend yield is measured by taking the annual dividends per share and dividing that number by the stock price. CHRW has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Simply comparing the level of dividends that two stocks pay does not give a true reflection of which security is more attractive, so investors calculate the dividend yield in order to standardize dividend payments. SEE: Guide To Stock-Picking Strategies: Income Investing
AMERCO (Nasdaq:UHAL) has increased to a share price of $89.02, a 2.5% rise. The company is trading at a volume of 14,431 shares. Yesterday, volume was only 14,115 shares. Volume indicates the level of interest that investors have in a company at its current price. Profit-margin ratios can give investors deeper insight into management efficiency than earnings alone can provide. Gross profit margin, operating profit margin and net margin are commonly used margins. UHAL has a gross profit margin of 44%. Operating margin is determined by taking operating income (income minus variable expenses) and dividing it by sales. UHAL's operating profit margin is 11.1%. Tracking net profit margin over time for a single company can be a valuable tool for seeing how a business is developing. Net margin is 8.2%.
Investors can use valuation ratios as tools to estimate what kind of deal a particular investment is. A price/sales ratio is derived by dividing stock market price by company sales. UHAL's P/S ratio of 0.83 is fairly low. Low P/S ratios are more attractive than high ratios because this indicates that an investor is paying less for each dollar of sales. A limitation of the P/S ratio is that the price component measures only stock market captialization, while sales are a function of the entire capital structure, potentially leading to wide differences between levered and unlevered companies.
Westinghouse Air Brake (NYSE:WAB) is at $77.98 per share after an increase of 2.4%. So far today, the company's volume is 63,269 shares, 0.2 times the average daily volume. Price change alone is not enough to know how a stock is doing. Volume is an important secondary indicator used to confirm trends suggested by price movement. Profit-margin ratios help us to keep score, as measured over time, of management's ability to generate profits and manage costs and expenses. There are three key profit-margin ratios: gross profit margin, operating profit margin and net profit margin. The gross profit margin for WAB is 28.9%. Compared with its gross profit margin, WAB's operating profit margin of 16.1% and net profit margin of 9% are low.
Looking at a company's valuation ratios is a good way of getting a basic idea as to its value as an investment. A company's price/earnings ratio (P/E ratio) provides a measure of how expensive or cheap a stock is. Compared to the industry average of 9.42, WAB's P/E ratio of 19.1 is quite high. This could mean that the market is expecting big things over the next few months or years. To determine the P/E ratio, an investor divides the market price of the stock by the earnings-per-share (EPS) of the stock. SEE: The P/E Ratio: A Good Market-Timing Indicator
Union Pacific (NYSE:UNP) is currently trading at $117.94 per share, a 2.3% increase. This morning, the company is trading a volume of 712,428 shares. Volume is an important indicator because it indicates how significant a price shift is. Calculating the profit margin is a great way to gain insight into aspects of how well a company generates and retains money. Instead of measuring how much managers earn from assets, equity or invested capital, profit-margin ratios measure how far a company stretches its total revenue or total sales. UNP has a gross profit margin of 67.7%. Net profit margin is a good ratio for determining how a company is performing. The company's net margin of 17.4% is high relative to its gross profit margin. A company with a high profit margin has a greater capability to maintain strong earnings during a recession than does a company with a low profit margin, providing investors with a greater margin of safety. The operating margin ratio is calculated by dividing operating income by sales and provides a measure of what percentage of a company's revenues is available to pay its fixed costs. UNP has an operating profit margin of 29.5%.
Valuation ratios allow the investor to make a quick determination as to a company's investment value. The debt-equity (D/E) ratio compares the total liabilities for a company to its total shareholder equity. The debt-equity ratio of 47% is relatively low. Companies with low D/E ratios are more attractive to investors because they are better able to protect their business interests in times of decline. The D/E ratio percentage provides a much more dramatic perspective on a company's leverage position than the debt ratio percentage.
The Bottom Line No matter the economic climate, Wall Street will always have stocks that make major moves each week. Daily stock performance should be weighed against historical performance and put in context of the market overall. Tools like valuation ratios and profit margins, however, are only as useful as the context you put them in; remember to take historical data and competitor performance into account.
The Transportation sector (IYT) is up 2%, underperforming the market overall. The biggest movers in the sector are currently:
| Company | Market Cap | Percentage Change |
| Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq:AAWW) | $1.07 billion | +5.6% |
| Con Way Inc (NYSE:CNW) | $1.93 billion | +4.7% |
| Air Methods Corporation (Nasdaq:AIRM) | $1.22 billion | +3.2% |
| CH Robinson Worldwide (Nasdaq:CHRW) | $9.22 billion | +2.9% |
| AMERCO (Nasdaq:UHAL) | $1.7 billion | +2.5% |
| Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corp (NYSE:WAB) | $3.67 billion | +2.4% |
| Union Pacific (NYSE:UNP) | $54.92 billion | +2.3% |
Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings (Nasdaq:AAWW) is currently trading at $42.96 per share, a 5.6% increase. The company's volume is currently 55,413 shares. This is below yesterday's volume of 145,949 shares. Volume is also used as a secondary indicator to help confirm what the price movement is suggesting. There are many tools investors can use to evaluate a stock, including margins. Margins, quite simply, are earnings expressed as a ratio, or a percentage of sales, and this allows investors to compare the profitability of different companies, while net earnings, which are presented as an absolute number, cannot. AAWW's gross profit margin is 44.2%. The operating profit margin indicates how much EBIT is generated per dollar of sales. Operating profit margin for AAWW is 14.9%. Net profit margins are those generated from all phases of a business, including taxes. Net profit margin for the company is 6.7%.
Investment valuation ratios can be very useful in determining the value of a stock, but it is very important to keep in mind that while some financial ratios have general rules (or a broad application), in most instances it is a prudent practice to look at a company's historical performance and use peer company/industry comparisons to put any given company's ratio in perspective. The debt ratio gives users a quick measure of the amount of debt that the company has on its balance sheets compared to its assets. The debt ratio for AAWW is 52.3%. However, one thing to note with this ratio: it isn't a pure measure of a company's debt (or indebtedness), as it also includes operational liabilities, such as accounts payable and taxes payable.
Con Way (NYSE:CNW) is up 4.7% to reach a current price of $36.29 per share. So far today, the company's volume is 208,072 shares, 0.2 times its current daily average. High volume indicates a lot of investor interest while low volume indicates the opposite. Profit-margin ratios measure how much money a company squeezes from its total revenue or total sales. Investors can look at a company's gross profit margin, operating profit margin and net margin to understand a company's profitability. The gross profit margin for CNW is 61.1%. CNW's operating margin of 4.1% and net margin of 2% are high relative to its gross margin.
Valuation ratios like the price to earnings (P/E) ratio, the price to earnings growth (PEG) ratio, the price to sales (P/S) ratio, the price to book (P/B) ratio, and the dividend yield are useful in determining how attractive a potential or existing investment is. The price/earnings to growth (PEG) ratio is calculated by dividing the price/earnings ratio by growth in earnings-per-share; the lower the PEG ratio, the more reasonably valued the security. PEG ratio for CNW is consistent with the industry average at 1.36. Because of the adjustment for earnings growth rate, the PEG ratio is somewhat more useful than many formulas for comparing companies in different industries.
Air (Nasdaq:AIRM) has risen 3.2% to hit a current price of $97.90 per share. The company's volume for the day so far is 61,346 shares. Volume is also used as a secondary indicator to help confirm what the price movement is suggesting. Margin analysis tells us how effectively management can wring profits from sales and how much room a company has to withstand a downturn, fend off competition and make mistakes. AIRM's gross profit margin is 40%. All else being equal, investors should feel more confident investing in a company with a high operating margin than one with a low operating margin. AIRM has an operating profit margin of 13.1%. Ideally, a company's profit margin should be stable or rising; declining profit margin should be cause for concern or further investigation. The company has a net profit margin of 7.4%.
A company's investment value can be estimated using valuation ratios such as the price to earnings (P/E) ratio, the price to earnings growth (PEG) ratio, the price to sales (P/S) ratio, the price to book (P/B) ratio, and the dividend yield. One of the favorite tools of many value investors is analyzing price/book value ratios, as it provides a measure of the underlying value of a company's assets as compared to the valuation of its equity. AIRM has a P/B ratio of 4.13 which shows that its share price is higher than its book value. This may be a sign that the company is overvalued. Users need to be careful when applying this ratio though, as it is more useful for industrial companies that have a lot of tangible assets than it is for technology or consumer product companies that may not have much in the way of hard assets. SEE: Investment Valuation Ratios: Price/Book Value Ratio
CH Robinson (Nasdaq:CHRW) has moved up 2.9% and is currently trading at $58.29 per share. The company's volume for the day so far is 260,429 share, 0.2 times its current three-month average. When a stock price moves up or down, watching the volume is a good way of identifying how significant that shift is. Margin ratios highlight companies that are worth further examination. CHRW has a low gross profit margin of 16.1%. Since gross profit margins tend to stay stable, sudden changes may indicate financial fraud, accounting irregularities or problems in the business. CHRW has an operating profit margin of 6.6% and a net profit margin of 4.2%, both low compared to its gross profit margin.
AMERCO (Nasdaq:UHAL) has increased to a share price of $89.02, a 2.5% rise. The company is trading at a volume of 14,431 shares. Yesterday, volume was only 14,115 shares. Volume indicates the level of interest that investors have in a company at its current price. Profit-margin ratios can give investors deeper insight into management efficiency than earnings alone can provide. Gross profit margin, operating profit margin and net margin are commonly used margins. UHAL has a gross profit margin of 44%. Operating margin is determined by taking operating income (income minus variable expenses) and dividing it by sales. UHAL's operating profit margin is 11.1%. Tracking net profit margin over time for a single company can be a valuable tool for seeing how a business is developing. Net margin is 8.2%.
Investors can use valuation ratios as tools to estimate what kind of deal a particular investment is. A price/sales ratio is derived by dividing stock market price by company sales. UHAL's P/S ratio of 0.83 is fairly low. Low P/S ratios are more attractive than high ratios because this indicates that an investor is paying less for each dollar of sales. A limitation of the P/S ratio is that the price component measures only stock market captialization, while sales are a function of the entire capital structure, potentially leading to wide differences between levered and unlevered companies.
Westinghouse Air Brake (NYSE:WAB) is at $77.98 per share after an increase of 2.4%. So far today, the company's volume is 63,269 shares, 0.2 times the average daily volume. Price change alone is not enough to know how a stock is doing. Volume is an important secondary indicator used to confirm trends suggested by price movement. Profit-margin ratios help us to keep score, as measured over time, of management's ability to generate profits and manage costs and expenses. There are three key profit-margin ratios: gross profit margin, operating profit margin and net profit margin. The gross profit margin for WAB is 28.9%. Compared with its gross profit margin, WAB's operating profit margin of 16.1% and net profit margin of 9% are low.
Looking at a company's valuation ratios is a good way of getting a basic idea as to its value as an investment. A company's price/earnings ratio (P/E ratio) provides a measure of how expensive or cheap a stock is. Compared to the industry average of 9.42, WAB's P/E ratio of 19.1 is quite high. This could mean that the market is expecting big things over the next few months or years. To determine the P/E ratio, an investor divides the market price of the stock by the earnings-per-share (EPS) of the stock. SEE: The P/E Ratio: A Good Market-Timing Indicator
Union Pacific (NYSE:UNP) is currently trading at $117.94 per share, a 2.3% increase. This morning, the company is trading a volume of 712,428 shares. Volume is an important indicator because it indicates how significant a price shift is. Calculating the profit margin is a great way to gain insight into aspects of how well a company generates and retains money. Instead of measuring how much managers earn from assets, equity or invested capital, profit-margin ratios measure how far a company stretches its total revenue or total sales. UNP has a gross profit margin of 67.7%. Net profit margin is a good ratio for determining how a company is performing. The company's net margin of 17.4% is high relative to its gross profit margin. A company with a high profit margin has a greater capability to maintain strong earnings during a recession than does a company with a low profit margin, providing investors with a greater margin of safety. The operating margin ratio is calculated by dividing operating income by sales and provides a measure of what percentage of a company's revenues is available to pay its fixed costs. UNP has an operating profit margin of 29.5%.
Valuation ratios allow the investor to make a quick determination as to a company's investment value. The debt-equity (D/E) ratio compares the total liabilities for a company to its total shareholder equity. The debt-equity ratio of 47% is relatively low. Companies with low D/E ratios are more attractive to investors because they are better able to protect their business interests in times of decline. The D/E ratio percentage provides a much more dramatic perspective on a company's leverage position than the debt ratio percentage.
The Bottom Line No matter the economic climate, Wall Street will always have stocks that make major moves each week. Daily stock performance should be weighed against historical performance and put in context of the market overall. Tools like valuation ratios and profit margins, however, are only as useful as the context you put them in; remember to take historical data and competitor performance into account.
by
Investopedia Staff
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