Latest news with #KenHoexter
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
BofA Lowers PT for Old Dominion (ODFL), Maintains Neutral Rating
On June 4, BofA Securities lowered its price target for Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. (NASDAQ:ODFL) from $183 to $172 and kept a Neutral rating on the stock. Ken Hoexter from BofA made the update following Old Dominion's mid-second quarter 2025 result. The American transport and logistics company reported a 5.8% decline year-over-year in revenue per day for May 2025, missing BofA's estimate of a 3.9% decline. Despite such, the company maintains a healthy gross profit margin of 39.75% and a trailing 12-month revenue of $5.73 billion. A large cargo ship navigating a busy port, its scale highlighting the company's marine transportation services. Hoexter also added that the company saw a 6.8% decline in shipments per day, missing the BofA's target of a 6.5% decline. The analyst also pointed out that the economic impact of the China tariffs has contributed to the weak results. Old Dominion's CEO, on the other hand, states that the company is maintaining its market share and profitability. Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. (NASDAQ:ODFL) is a freight transportation and logistics services company that primarily offers services in the United States, Canada, and Mexico . The company also offers household moving services and expedited logistics. While we acknowledge the potential of ODFL as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an extremely cheap AI stock that is also a major beneficiary of Trump tariffs and onshoring, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. Read Next: and . Disclosure. None.
Business Insider
a day ago
- Business
- Business Insider
BMO Capital Reaffirms Their Hold Rating on Saia (SAIA)
BMO Capital analyst Fadi Chamoun maintained a Hold rating on Saia (SAIA – Research Report) today and set a price target of $280.00. The company's shares opened today at $257.50. Confident Investing Starts Here: Easily unpack a company's performance with TipRanks' new KPI Data for smart investment decisions Receive undervalued, market resilient stocks right to your inbox with TipRanks' Smart Value Newsletter Chamoun covers the Industrials sector, focusing on stocks such as Saia, CAE, and Canadian National Railway. According to TipRanks, Chamoun has an average return of 13.3% and a 63.38% success rate on recommended stocks. In addition to BMO Capital, Saia also received a Hold from Bank of America Securities's Ken Hoexter in a report issued yesterday. However, on the same day, Benchmark Co. maintained a Buy rating on Saia (NASDAQ: SAIA). The company has a one-year high of $624.55 and a one-year low of $229.12. Currently, Saia has an average volume of 791.5K.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Argus Sees Union Pacific (UNP) As A Compelling Opportunity
On May 16, Argus Research analyst Kristina Ruggeri pointed to Union Pacific Corp.'s (NYSE:UNP) recent underperformance as a buying opportunity. The analyst based his positive view on the company's ability to maintain a healthy operating margin despite macro pressures. He attributed this solid performance to higher volumes, productivity gains, and better value-based pricing. Additionally, the analyst cited Union Pacific's above-industry-average dividend yields of about 2.3% as positive for the stock. He reiterated his Buy rating on the stock with a price target of $275. A freight train carrying railcar equipment in the foreground with a commercial area in the background. A day before, BofA analyst Ken Hoexter raised his price target on Union Pacific Corp. (NYSE:UNP) to $262 from $256 while reiterating his Buy rating. However, their update was more broad-based as BofA analysts raised price targets and valuation multiples across the rails, less-than-truckload shippers, truckload shippers, and intermodal carriers industry. As per the report, they have become slightly more positive on this space as they now see increased volume flows at least until mid-Summer, compared to a recessionary outlook earlier. This led to upward estimate revisions across that industry. UNP, as a railroad company, remains an integral part of the global supply chain. It enjoys stable fundamentals and a well-defined business strategy. By rail, it connects 23 U.S. states in the western two-thirds of the country. While we acknowledge the potential of UNP as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than UNP and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock. READ NEXT: and . Disclosure: None.
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Knight-Swift Faces Pressure With Lack Of Freight Flows Amid Tariffs, Analyst Downgrades Stock
BofA Securities analyst Ken Hoexter downgraded the shares of Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc (NYSE:KNX) on Tuesday from Buy to Neutral and lowered the price forecast from $66.00 to $46.00. The revision reflects a reduced valuation multiple of 28x, down from 33x, slightly exceeding the company's historical range of 14x-26x. The stock currently trades at 26.4x the 2025 EPS estimate, which may face additional downward pressure as forecasts decline, said the analyst. The analyst's earnings estimates for KNX have been significantly reduced for the first quarter, second quarter, FY25, and FY26 by 35%, 20%, 17%, and 11% to $0.20, $0.38, $1.65, and $2.95, respectively, from $0.31, $0.48, $2.00, and $3.30. Also Read: The cuts stem from early first-quarter weather disruptions, followed by weakened freight flows amid tariff concerns. 1Q25/2Q25 estimates now fall below the company's and consensus targets. Additionally, truckload spot rates have declined to $1.50 per mile, near breakeven for truckers, signaling broader industry challenges. KNX is projected to shrink its truckload (TL) fleet by 1.5% sequentially in the first-quarter to 21,900 tractors, exceeding the previously expected 0.8% reduction. Revenue per mile is anticipated to remain steady at $2.36, with only 1% year-over-year growth in 2025 due to a lack of new contract bid premiums and exposure to volatile spot rates. KNX is experiencing challenges across its Less-Than-Truckload (LTL), Intermodal, and Logistics divisions. Lower demand is pressuring Intermodal volumes and bid season rates, while the Logistics segment faced early first-quarter struggles before stabilizing later in the quarter. Weather-related costs are expected to impact LTL results, prompting an upward revision of the first-quarter LTL operating ratio target to 94.6% from 94.1%, concluded the analyst. Price Action: KNX shares traded lower by 0.16% at $43.43 at last check Tuesday. Read Next:Image via Shutterstock. Date Firm Action From To Mar 2022 Susquehanna Upgrades Neutral Positive Jan 2022 Morgan Stanley Maintains Overweight Jan 2022 Raymond James Maintains Outperform View More Analyst Ratings for KNX View the Latest Analyst Ratings UNLOCKED: 5 NEW TRADES EVERY WEEK. Click now to get top trade ideas daily, plus unlimited access to cutting-edge tools and strategies to gain an edge in the markets. Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? KNIGHT-SWIFT (KNX): Free Stock Analysis Report This article Knight-Swift Faces Pressure With Lack Of Freight Flows Amid Tariffs, Analyst Downgrades Stock originally appeared on © 2025 Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
FedEx Stock's Sell-Off Drags Down UPS. Is the High-Yield Dividend Stock a Buy Now?
Shares of FedEx (NYSE: FDX) hit a new 52-week low on March 21 after the company reported fiscal third-quarter earnings and trimmed its full-year guidance again. Shares of rival package delivery company United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) also fell on the news, and then sold off by another 5.1% on March 25 in apparent response to Bank of America analyst Ken Hoexter's downward revision of his forecast for the logistics giant. Hoexter now expects UPS' earnings for the current quarter to be 15% below his prior estimate. With the stock at its lowest level since July 2020, is UPS a buy, or is the dividend stock falling for valid reasons? UPS' sales and operating margins have been falling as the transportation sector has been hit hard by pullbacks in consumer spending and high interest rates. Management is guiding for 2025 revenue to decline by 2.3%, but expects its operating margin to rise by 130 basis points to 8.8% -- an increase compared to 2024, but still below pre-pandemic levels. That guidance is fairly weak, but what was even more concerning was this comment from CFO Brian Dykes on the Q4 earnings call: "Our guidance for 2025 does not reflect any significant potential global trade implications due to changes in tariffs." On the earnings call, UPS noted that S&P Global forecasts 2.5% GDP growth in 2025, and a 2% increase in real exports and global industrial production. However, if tariffs and trade wars hinder economic growth, these estimates could prove too optimistic, and UPS' results could be noticeably worse than its already uninspiring projections. FedEx just cut its fiscal-year adjusted earnings per share (EPS) guidance to a range of $18.00 to $18.60 per share. At the midpoint, that's down by more than 6% from the guidance it gave just a quarter ago, and down 12.9% from its initial forecast for the year from June. Given the analyst cut that sent UPS stock falling last Tuesday, there appear to be reasons to be concerned that UPS' results could be even lower than projected. A slowdown in 2025 could put the company's medium-term goals in jeopardy. On the latest earnings call, UPS said it expects to return to margin growth in 2026 -- forecasting a domestic operating margin of 12% by the fourth quarter of 2026. But if there's a period of prolonged economic weakness, it may not be able to hit that goal on schedule. Since it began distributing regularly scheduled quarterly payouts in 2000, UPS has never cut its dividend. However, there have been years when the company did not raise it. But in 2022, UPS boosted its quarterly dividend from $1.02 per share to $1.52 per share -- a massive increase that may have been a mistake in hindsight. At the time, UPS was firing on all cylinders -- growing its revenue, expanding its operating margin, and generating tons of free cash flow (FCF). If UPS had built on that momentum, that 49% higher dividend would have been reasonable. Instead, EPS and FCF fell while UPS continued to make modest annual increases to its payout. Now, UPS' dividend payments are absorbing the bulk of its FCF and earnings. When UPS decided on that large dividend raise in 2022, it had a much more manageable payout ratio. On UPS' fourth-quarter 2024 earnings call on Jan. 30, management said it expects $5.7 billion in 2025 FCF, which includes its annual pension of $1.4 billion, $3.5 billion in capital expenditures as it invests in improving its network, $1 billion in stock buybacks, and $5.5 billion in dividends. In short, UPS doesn't think it will generate enough FCF to cover its capital allocation targets, which will put pressure on its balance sheet. Fortunately, UPS could take on debt, and even if it did, its balance sheet would still be in great shape. UPS paid down debt during the pandemic years when it was booking unusually strong earnings. Its net total long-term debt position is just $15 billion -- which is healthy for a company of its size -- as evidenced by its strong leverage ratio. UPS can cover a bit of its capital return program by taking on debt in the near term. However, that's not a sustainable strategy, and it will need to improve its earnings and FCF significantly to reach its target payout ratio of 50%. President Donald Trump's tariffs are coming at a terrible time for UPS, as the company was already in recovery mode. A U.S. economic slowdown could delay the company's turnaround and put further pressure on its balance sheet. If its FCF continues to decline, it could cut its stock buyback program. And if macroeconomic conditions get really bad and stay bad for a while, UPS could have little choice but to consider a dividend cut. While no investor welcomes a dividend cut, UPS' yield is high enough that it could trim the payout and still be an excellent source of passive income. For example, if UPS reduced its dividend to $1 per share per quarter -- about the same payout it was distributing at the end of 2021 before its massive raise, the stock would still yield 3.6% based on its share price of around $110 at the time of this writing. That's still a far higher yield than the market average, and higher than many quality dividend stocks. UPS' near-term prospects look bleak, but its balance sheet is strong, it remains an industry leader, and its dividend could take a cut and still be attractive. UPS is also trading at a dirt-cheap valuation of just 16.3 times earnings. If its earnings fall by, say, 20% in 2025, UPS would still have a P/E of around 20 at the current share price, making it a bargain even assuming an especially negative scenario. Add it all up, and UPS could be a great buy for patient investors willing to look past the next few years. Before you buy stock in United Parcel Service, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and United Parcel Service wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $682,965!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 842% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 165% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of March 24, 2025 Bank of America is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Daniel Foelber has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bank of America, FedEx, and S&P Global. The Motley Fool recommends United Parcel Service. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. FedEx Stock's Sell-Off Drags Down UPS. Is the High-Yield Dividend Stock a Buy Now? was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
