Contrasting Freightcar America (RAIL) & Its Competitors

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

Institutional and Insider 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 insiders. Comparatively, 10.7% of shares of all “TRANS – EQP&LSNG” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Freightcar America and its peers’ 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	10.41%	5.23%	2.85%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Freightcar America and its peers, as provided 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	571	997	66	2.57

Freightcar America presently has a consensus target price of $9.00, indicating a potential downside of 7.98%. As a group, “TRANS – EQP&LSNG” companies have a potential upside of 10.48%. Given Freightcar America’s peers higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Freightcar America has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Volatility and Risk

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

Valuation and Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Freightcar America	$559.42 million	-$75.82 million	-13.97
Freightcar America Competitors	$3.76 billion	$360.72 million	21.09

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

Summary

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

About Freightcar America

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.