Stocks · Industrials · Integrated Freight & Logistics
Forward Air Corporation FWRD
$15.91 +2.65% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NASDAQ · Market cap $503.2M
Strong growthWeak trendHigh risk
Next earnings report: Nov 4, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Operating margin narrowed to -6.7% from 2.3% a year earlier.
- The stock is in a downtrend: below its 200-day average, with the 50-day average below the 200-day.
- The stock is 47% below its highest close of the past year.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Industrials sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 20%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Top 3%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRTop 21%
- Revenue growth accelerationTop 32%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalBottom 15%
- Gross marginBottom 10%
- Operating marginBottom 15%
- Accruals (lower is better)Top 8%
- Interest coverBottom 19%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldBottom 5%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 11%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueBottom 14%
- Sales / enterprise valueTop 20%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthBottom 11%
- 6-month returnBottom 33%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Bottom 14%
- Distance from 52-week highBottom 20%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Bottom 40%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersBottom 6%
- Consecutive EPS beatsBottom 16%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 16%
- Upside to consensus price targetTop 40%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Bottom 16%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsBottom 7%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Bottom 8%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | -3.2% | -0.1% | ↑ |
| Gross margin | 15.6% | 10.6% | ↓ |
| Operating margin | 2.3% | -6.7% | ↓ |
| FCF margin | 0.3% | 1.9% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | -0.1% | -3.2% | ↑ | Bottom 20% |
| Gross margin | 10.6% | 15.6% | ↓ | Bottom 10% |
| Operating margin | -6.7% | 2.3% | ↓ | Bottom 15% |
| Net margin | -11.4% | -6.9% | ↓ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 1.9% | 0.3% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | -7.9% | — | Bottom 15% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 14.1% | — | Top 21% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -14.8%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 0.2%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- +12.0 pp
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- -1.9×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 0.00%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- -0.22%
- Shareholder yield
- -0.22%
- Share count change, 1 year
- +6.7%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- +7.7%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 5, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 0
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 1 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- -100.0%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -3.4%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 4 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $22.00
- Target vs current price
- +38.3%
- Analysts with a rating
- 21
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 33%
- Consensus rating
- Hold
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 5, 2026 | -3748.3% | +0.7% | +21.6% | +7.1% | — |
| May 7, 2026 | -211.4% | -5.6% | -52.4% | -43.6% | -20.1% |
| Feb 23, 2026 | -5.7% | -9.1% | -9.1% | -44.4% | -69.4% |
| Nov 5, 2025 | -300.0% | -2.5% | +19.7% | +38.9% | +59.8% |
| Aug 11, 2025 | -141.2% | -5.6% | -1.6% | -2.0% | -40.5% |
| May 7, 2025 | -238.3% | +2.9% | +12.8% | +7.4% | +74.3% |
| Feb 26, 2025 | +108.3% | -6.1% | -19.2% | -23.8% | -39.8% |
| Nov 4, 2024 | -987.5% | -1.5% | +3.4% | +5.1% | -5.8% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 5, 2026 | -$5.90 | -$0.15 | -3748.3% | $673.0M |
| May 7, 2026 | -$1.09 | -$0.35 | -211.4% | $582.0M |
| Feb 23, 2026 | -$0.28 | -$0.27 | -5.7% | $631.2M |
| Nov 5, 2025 | -$0.52 | -$0.13 | -300.0% | $631.8M |
| Aug 11, 2025 | -$0.41 | -$0.17 | -141.2% | $618.8M |
| May 7, 2025 | -$1.59 | -$0.47 | -238.3% | $613.3M |
| Feb 26, 2025 | $0.01 | -$0.12 | +108.3% | $632.8M |
| Nov 4, 2024 | -$1.74 | -$0.16 | -987.5% | $655.9M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EV / Sales | 0.98× | — | — | Top 20% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 9.58% | — | — | Top 11% |
| Earnings yield | -56.07% | — | — | Bottom 5% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 4.4× – 48.3× since Jun 30, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✓ Price above 20-day average
- ✗ Price above 50-day average
- ✗ Price above 200-day average
- ✗ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✓ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 0
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- +4.9%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- -4.0%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -3.8%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -14.7%
- RSI (14)
- 50.9
- Relative volume
- 0.66×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 73.8%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 78th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 2.29
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.41
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -47.4%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -89.2%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 4, 2022 | May 19, 2026 | -93.3% | 1096 days | Not yet recovered |
| May 7, 2021 | Sep 14, 2021 | -18.3% | 89 days | 33 days (Oct 29, 2021) |
| Jan 20, 2021 | Jan 29, 2021 | -12.1% | 7 days | 7 days (Feb 9, 2021) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $503.2M
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- -$8.92
- Revenue (TTM)
- $2.52B
- 52-week range
- $7.86 – $31.18
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $1.39B | $1.68B | $1.37B | $2.47B | $2.50B |
| Gross profit | $314.0M | $491.7M | $330.2M | $339.7M | $510.9M |
| Operating income | $147.0M | $247.6M | $88.2M | -$1.06B | $36.4M |
| Net income | $105.9M | $193.2M | $167.4M | -$817.0M | -$107.8M |
| EPS (diluted) | $3.85 | $7.14 | $0.43 | -$29.66 | -$3.48 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $655.9M | $632.8M | $613.3M | $618.8M | $631.8M | $631.2M | $582.0M | $673.0M |
| Net income | -$73.4M | -$36.4M | -$50.6M | -$12.6M | -$16.3M | -$28.3M | -$34.3M | -$207.3M |
| EPS (diluted) | -$2.63 | -$1.24 | -$1.68 | -$0.41 | -$0.52 | -$0.91 | -$1.11 | -$6.38 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $120.3M | $259.1M | $181.4M | -$75.4M | $44.4M |
| Capital expenditure | -$39.1M | -$40.7M | -$30.7M | -$37.1M | -$29.1M |
| Free cash flow | $81.2M | $218.4M | $150.7M | -$112.5M | $15.3M |
| Dividends paid | -$23.0M | -$25.9M | -$25.0M | $0 | $0 |
| Net share buybacks | -$49.0M | -$62.8M | -$93.8M | $753,000 | $846,000 |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $139.4M
- Total assets
- $2.41B
- Total liabilities
- $2.53B
- Total debt
- $2.11B
- Net debt
- $1.97B
- Shareholders’ equity
- -$115.4M
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 5, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 21, 2023 | $0.24 | Dec 7, 2023 |
| Aug 16, 2023 | $0.24 | Sep 7, 2023 |
| May 24, 2023 | $0.24 | Jun 13, 2023 |
| Mar 1, 2023 | $0.24 | Mar 17, 2023 |
| Nov 22, 2022 | $0.24 | Dec 8, 2022 |
| Aug 17, 2022 | $0.24 | Sep 8, 2022 |
| May 25, 2022 | $0.24 | Jun 14, 2022 |
| Mar 2, 2022 | $0.24 | Mar 18, 2022 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 2,163,196
- Days to cover
- 4.29
- Change vs previous report
- +2.6%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Apr 4, 2005
- 3-for-2
- Jan 31, 2000
- 3-for-2
- Mar 22, 1999
- 2-for-1