Critical Comparison: ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) and Vossloh (OTCMKTS:VOSSF)

Vossloh (OTCMKTS:VOSSF) and ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Vossloh and ArcBest’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vossloh	N/A	N/A	N/A
ArcBest	0.39%	7.92%	4.15%

Dividends

Vossloh pays an annual dividend of $0.50 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 0.3%. Vossloh pays out -3.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. ArcBest pays out 69.6% 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. Vossloh is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Vossloh and ArcBest, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vossloh	0	1	0	0	2.00
ArcBest	0	7	7	1	2.60

ArcBest has a consensus price target of $154.23, suggesting a potential upside of 11.97%. Given ArcBest’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe ArcBest is more favorable than Vossloh.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Vossloh and ArcBest”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vossloh	N/A	N/A	N/A	($13.01)	-5.24
ArcBest	$4.01 billion	0.77	$60.10 million	$0.69	199.62

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

33.5% of Vossloh shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.3% of ArcBest shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of ArcBest shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

ArcBest beats Vossloh on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Vossloh

Vossloh AG provides rail infrastructure products and services in Germany and internationally. It operates through three divisions: Core Components, Customized Modules, and Lifecycle Solutions. The Core Components division develops, produces, and markets rail fastening systems for heavy-haul and high-speed lines, as well as urban transport applications. This division also manufactures concrete ties, switch ties, and concrete elements for slab tracks and level crossing systems. Its Customized Modules division manufactures, installs, and maintains switches and crossings, as well as related control and monitoring systems for light-rail and high-speed applications. The Lifecycle Solutions division engages in rail trading, long-rail unloading at construction sites, welding new rails, reconditioning old rails, on-site welding, rail replacement, rail grinding/milling, rail inspection, and construction site supervision activities. This division also organizes and monitors rail shipments to construction sites; and enables on-site availability of the unloading systems. The company was founded in 1883 and is headquartered in Werdohl, Germany.

About ArcBest

ArcBest Corporation, an integrated logistics company, engages in the provision of ground, air, and ocean transportation solutions. It operates through two segments: Asset-Based and Asset-Light. The Asset-Based segment provides less-than-truckload (LTL) services, that transports general commodities, such as food, textiles, apparel, furniture, appliances, chemicals, non-bulk petroleum products, rubber, plastics, metal and metal products, wood, glass, automotive parts, machinery, and miscellaneous manufactured products. The segment also offers motor carrier freight transportation services to customers in Mexico through arrangements with trucking companies. The Asset-Light segment provides ground expedite services; third-party transportation brokerage services by sourcing various capacity solutions, including dry van over-the-road, temperature-controlled and refrigerated, flatbed, intermodal or container shipping, and specialized equipment; less-than- and full container load ocean transportation services; warehousing and distribution services; managed transportation services; and moving services to do-it-yourself' consumer, as well as provides final mile, time critical, product launch, retail logistics, supply chain optimization, and trade show shipping services. This segment also offers premium logistics services, such as deployment of specialized equipment to meet linehaul requirements; international freight transportation with air, ocean, and ground services; and engages in the final mile, time-critical, product launch, retail logistics, supply chain optimization, brokered LTL, and trade show shipping activities. The company was formerly known as Arkansas Best Corporation and changed its name to ArcBest Corporation in May 2014. ArcBest Corporation was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in Fort Smith, Arkansas.