Park-Ohio (PKOH) Competitors

Park-Ohio (NASDAQ:PKOH) and Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) are both small-cap air freight & logistics companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation and profitability.

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of PKOH or FWRD?

51.4% of Park-Ohio shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.0% of Forward Air shares are owned by institutional investors. 31.5% of Park-Ohio shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 17.2% of Forward Air shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is PKOH or FWRD a better dividend stock?

Park-Ohio pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Forward Air pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Park-Ohio pays out 24.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Forward Air pays out -16.0% 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. Forward Air is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has more volatility and risk, PKOH or FWRD?

Park-Ohio has a beta of 1.31, meaning that its share price is 31% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Forward Air has a beta of 1.4, meaning that its share price is 40% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is PKOH or FWRD more profitable?

Park-Ohio has a net margin of 1.73% compared to Forward Air's net margin of -6.86%. Park-Ohio's return on equity of 12.27% beat Forward Air's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Park-Ohio	1.73%	12.27%	3.09%
Forward Air	-6.86%	-40.36%	-3.77%

Does the media prefer PKOH or FWRD?

In the previous week, Park-Ohio had 1 more articles in the media than Forward Air. MarketBeat recorded 4 mentions for Park-Ohio and 3 mentions for Forward Air. Forward Air's average media sentiment score of 1.57 beat Park-Ohio's score of 1.16 indicating that Forward Air is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Park-Ohio	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Forward Air	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Which has higher earnings and valuation, PKOH or FWRD?

Park-Ohio has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Forward Air. Forward Air is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Park-Ohio, 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
Park-Ohio	$1.66B	0.19	$31.80M	$2.03	10.64
Forward Air	$2.52B	0.36	-$816.97M	-$5.99	-4.93

Do analysts rate PKOH or FWRD?

Forward Air has a consensus price target of $37.75, indicating a potential upside of 27.92%. Given Forward Air's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Forward Air is more favorable than Park-Ohio.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Park-Ohio	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
Forward Air	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60

Summary

Forward Air beats Park-Ohio on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.