Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL) Competitors

Old Dominion Freight Line (NASDAQ:ODFL) and ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) are both transportation companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, media sentiment, dividends, institutional ownership and earnings.

Is ODFL or ARCB more profitable?

Old Dominion Freight Line has a net margin of 20.04% compared to ArcBest's net margin of 4.37%. Old Dominion Freight Line's return on equity of 27.40% beat ArcBest's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Old Dominion Freight Line	20.04%	27.40%	21.12%
ArcBest	4.37%	10.05%	5.35%

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in ODFL or ARCB?

77.8% of Old Dominion Freight Line shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.3% of ArcBest shares are owned by institutional investors. 10.0% of Old Dominion Freight Line shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of ArcBest shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more risk and volatility, ODFL or ARCB?

Old Dominion Freight Line has a beta of 1.25, indicating that its share price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ArcBest has a beta of 1.71, indicating that its share price is 71% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts recommend ODFL or ARCB?

Old Dominion Freight Line currently has a consensus price target of $174.45, suggesting a potential upside of 8.12%. ArcBest has a consensus price target of $93.17, suggesting a potential upside of 17.58%. Given ArcBest's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe ArcBest is more favorable than Old Dominion Freight Line.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Old Dominion Freight Line	1 Sell rating(s)	14 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.27
ArcBest	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.46

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, ODFL or ARCB?

Old Dominion Freight Line has higher revenue and earnings than ArcBest. ArcBest is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Old Dominion Freight Line, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Old Dominion Freight Line	$5.81B	5.86	$1.19B	$5.33	30.27
ArcBest	$4.18B	0.43	$173.96M	$7.56	10.48

Is ODFL or ARCB a better dividend stock?

Old Dominion Freight Line pays an annual dividend of $1.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. ArcBest pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Old Dominion Freight Line pays out 21.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. ArcBest pays out 6.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Old Dominion Freight Line has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years. Old Dominion Freight Line is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the media favor ODFL or ARCB?

In the previous week, Old Dominion Freight Line had 4 more articles in the media than ArcBest. MarketBeat recorded 14 mentions for Old Dominion Freight Line and 10 mentions for ArcBest. Old Dominion Freight Line's average media sentiment score of 1.09 beat ArcBest's score of 0.71 indicating that Old Dominion Freight Line is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Old Dominion Freight Line	11 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
ArcBest	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Old Dominion Freight Line beats ArcBest on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.