Freightcar America (RAIL) & Its Competitors Head to Head Review

Freightcar America (NASDAQ:RAIL) is one of 14 public companies in the “TRANS – EQP&LSNG” industry, but how does it contrast to its rivals? We will compare Freightcar America to related businesses based on the strength of its risk, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

32.0% of Freightcar America shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.4% of shares of all “TRANS – EQP&LSNG” companies are held by institutional investors. 28.7% of Freightcar America shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 10.3% of shares of all “TRANS – EQP&LSNG” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Freightcar America and its rivals, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Freightcar America	1	0	1	1	2.67
Freightcar America Competitors	130	572	999	66	2.57

Freightcar America presently has a consensus price target of $9.00, indicating a potential downside of 1.85%. As a group, “TRANS – EQP&LSNG” companies have a potential upside of 10.33%. Given Freightcar America’s rivals higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Freightcar America has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Volatility & Risk

Freightcar America has a beta of 2.19, meaning that its stock price is 119% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Freightcar America’s rivals have a beta of 1.02, meaning that their average stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Freightcar America	-2.21%	-14.89%	6.92%
Freightcar America Competitors	10.20%	4.81%	2.75%

Valuation & Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Freightcar America	$559.42 million	-$75.82 million	-13.10
Freightcar America Competitors	$3.76 billion	$360.72 million	21.44

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

Summary

Freightcar America rivals beat Freightcar America on 8 of the 13 factors compared.

Freightcar America Company Profile

FreightCar America, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in design, manufacture, and sale of railcars and railcar components for the transportation of bulk commodities and containerized freight products in the United States and Mexico. It operates in two segments, Manufacturing and Parts. The company offers a range of railcars, including open top hoppers, mill gondola cars, intermodal and non-intermodal flat cars, coal cars; bulk commodity cars covered hopper cars, coil steel cars, boxcars, woodchip hoppers, aluminum vehicle carriers, and articulated bulk container railcars. It also sells used railcars; rebuilds, converts, and leases railcars; and sells forged, cast, and fabricated parts for various railcars. The company's customers primarily include shippers, railroads, and financial institutions. FreightCar America, Inc. was founded in 1901 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.