Stocks · Industrials · Trucking
Heartland Express, Inc. HTLD
$11.90 +2.23% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NASDAQ · Market cap $922.1M
Next earnings report: Oct 29, 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
- Revenue over the last four quarters was $736.3M, down 21.0% from a year earlier, accelerating from -23.5% a quarter earlier.
- The stock is 27% below its highest close of the past year.
- Over the past year the stock returned +42.9%, ahead of the S&P 500 by 27.8 percentage points.
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 3%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 13%
- Revenue growth accelerationTop 39%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalBottom 19%
- Gross marginBottom 8%
- Operating marginBottom 15%
- Accruals (lower is better)Top 22%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 32%
- Interest coverBottom 14%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldBottom 27%
- Free-cash-flow yieldBottom 14%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 17%
- Sales / enterprise valueTop 33%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 20%
- 6-month returnTop 38%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Top 23%
- Distance from 52-week highBottom 42%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Bottom 40%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 4%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 45%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 6%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 18%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 37%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsBottom 44%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 28%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 32%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | -23.5% | -21.0% | ↑ |
| Gross margin | 9.2% | 7.5% | ↓ |
| Operating margin | -4.7% | -6.7% | ↓ |
| FCF margin | -3.4% | -11.6% | ↓ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | -21.0% | -23.5% | ↑ | Bottom 3% |
| Gross margin | 7.5% | 9.2% | ↓ | Bottom 8% |
| Operating margin | -6.7% | -4.7% | ↓ | Bottom 15% |
| Net margin | -3.0% | -3.8% | ↑ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | -11.6% | -3.4% | ↓ | — |
| Return on invested capital | -4.0% | — | Bottom 19% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | -5.9% | — | Bottom 13% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -8.6%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 0.1%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- +8.4 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 0.82×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- -5.2×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 0.67%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 0.42%
- Shareholder yield
- 1.09%
- Share count change, 1 year
- -0.9%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -0.7%
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 10, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 2
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 3 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +100.0%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -0.5%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 5 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $13.25
- Target vs current price
- +11.3%
- Analysts with a rating
- 22
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 18%
- Consensus rating
- Hold
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 30, 2026 | +4720.5% | -2.0% | -3.4% | -4.0% | — |
| Apr 23, 2026 | +53.8% | +3.8% | +14.4% | +21.2% | +30.2% |
| Feb 3, 2026 | -257.1% | +2.9% | +7.7% | +2.2% | +23.0% |
| Oct 31, 2025 | +0.0% | +3.2% | +0.7% | +4.0% | +32.9% |
| Jul 24, 2025 | -75.0% | -4.4% | -9.6% | -6.5% | -2.7% |
| Apr 30, 2025 | -38.5% | -3.1% | -3.1% | +14.9% | +6.6% |
| Jan 28, 2025 | +50.0% | -2.2% | -5.8% | -14.4% | -29.6% |
| Oct 29, 2024 | -207.7% | -2.5% | -4.2% | +10.0% | +3.8% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 30, 2026 | $0.14 | -$0.00 | +4720.5% | $184.1M |
| Apr 23, 2026 | -$0.06 | -$0.13 | +53.8% | $176.3M |
| Feb 3, 2026 | -$0.25 | -$0.07 | -257.1% | $179.4M |
| Oct 31, 2025 | -$0.11 | -$0.11 | +0.0% | $196.5M |
| Jul 24, 2025 | -$0.14 | -$0.08 | -75.0% | $210.4M |
| Apr 30, 2025 | -$0.18 | -$0.13 | -38.5% | $219.4M |
| Jan 28, 2025 | -$0.02 | -$0.04 | +50.0% | $242.6M |
| Oct 29, 2024 | -$0.12 | -$0.04 | -207.7% | $259.9M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (forward) | 66.4× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 9.8× | — | — | Top 17% |
| EV / Sales | 1.37× | — | — | Top 33% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | -9.30% | — | — | Bottom 14% |
| Earnings yield | -2.37% | — | — | Bottom 27% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 8.1× – 70.7× 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)
- -9.3%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +3.0%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -3.3%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -2.5%
- RSI (14)
- 47.8
- Relative volume
- 0.78×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 36.3%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 76th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.80
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.31
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -26.6%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -53.7%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 15, 2020 | Nov 20, 2025 | -65.1% | 1281 days | Not yet recovered |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $922.1M
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- -$0.28
- Revenue (TTM)
- $736.3M
- Dividend yield
- 0.67%
- 52-week range
- $7.00 – $16.64
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $607.3M | $968.0M | $1.21B | $1.05B | $805.7M |
| Gross profit | $128.2M | $200.7M | $145.3M | $110.2M | $67.5M |
| Operating income | $105.4M | $91.5M | $1.3M | -$27.7M | -$61.9M |
| Net income | $79.3M | $133.6M | $14.8M | -$29.7M | -$52.5M |
| EPS (diluted) | $1.00 | $1.69 | $0.19 | -$0.38 | -$0.67 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $259.9M | $242.6M | $219.4M | $210.4M | $196.5M | $179.4M | $176.3M | $184.1M |
| Net income | -$9.3M | -$1.9M | -$13.9M | -$10.9M | -$8.3M | -$19.4M | -$4.8M | $10.6M |
| EPS (diluted) | -$0.12 | -$0.02 | -$0.18 | -$0.14 | -$0.11 | -$0.25 | -$0.06 | $0.14 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $123.4M | $194.7M | $165.3M | $144.3M | $89.3M |
| Capital expenditure | -$132.6M | -$160.6M | -$208.6M | -$109.5M | -$156.2M |
| Free cash flow | -$9.2M | $34.1M | -$43.3M | $34.8M | -$66.9M |
| Dividends paid | -$45.9M | -$6.3M | -$6.3M | -$4.7M | -$6.2M |
| Net share buybacks | -$32.0M | -$290,000 | -$290,000 | -$7.3M | -$10.4M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $62.4M
- Total assets
- $1.17B
- Total liabilities
- $418.5M
- Total debt
- $146.4M
- Net debt
- $84.0M
- Shareholders’ equity
- $756.3M
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 10, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 25, 2026 | $0.02 | Oct 7, 2026 |
| Jun 23, 2026 | $0.02 | Jul 6, 2026 |
| Mar 24, 2026 | $0.02 | Apr 3, 2026 |
| Dec 26, 2025 | $0.02 | Jan 7, 2026 |
| Sep 23, 2025 | $0.02 | Oct 3, 2025 |
| Jun 23, 2025 | $0.02 | Jul 3, 2025 |
| Mar 25, 2025 | $0.02 | Apr 4, 2025 |
| Dec 27, 2024 | $0.02 | Jan 8, 2025 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 3,497,403
- Days to cover
- 5.89
- Change vs previous report
- +3.8%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- May 16, 2006
- 4-for-3
- Aug 23, 2004
- 3-for-2
- Feb 20, 2002
- 15,769-for-10,000
- Jun 1, 2001
- 5-for-4
- Oct 7, 1996
- 3-for-2