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SAIA vs. JBHT: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

Zacks Equity Research
·2-min read

Investors with an interest in Transportation - Truck stocks have likely encountered both Saia (SAIA) and JB Hunt (JBHT). But which of these two stocks offers value investors a better bang for their buck right now? We'll need to take a closer look.

There are plenty of strategies for discovering value stocks, but we have found that pairing a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system produces the best returns. The proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Saia has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while JB Hunt has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that SAIA likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than JBHT has recently. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

Value investors also tend to look at a number of traditional, tried-and-true figures to help them find stocks that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels.

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Our Value category highlights undervalued companies by looking at a variety of key metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, as well as the P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that have been used by value investors for years.

SAIA currently has a forward P/E ratio of 15.17, while JBHT has a forward P/E of 17.73. We also note that SAIA has a PEG ratio of 0.69. This figure is similar to the commonly-used P/E ratio, with the PEG ratio also factoring in a company's expected earnings growth rate. JBHT currently has a PEG ratio of 1.18.

Another notable valuation metric for SAIA is its P/B ratio of 3.98. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, JBHT has a P/B of 5.33.

These metrics, and several others, help SAIA earn a Value grade of B, while JBHT has been given a Value grade of C.

SAIA is currently sporting an improving earnings outlook, which makes it stick out in our Zacks Rank model. And, based on the above valuation metrics, we feel that SAIA is likely the superior value option right now.


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Saia, Inc. (SAIA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (JBHT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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Zacks Investment Research