American Axle & Manufacturing (AXL) Competitors

American Axle & Manufacturing (NYSE:AXL) and Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) are both small-cap auto/tires/trucks companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, dividends, valuation, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, earnings and institutional ownership.

Do analysts recommend AXL or BLBD?

American Axle & Manufacturing presently has a consensus price target of $6.25, suggesting a potential upside of 8.89%. Blue Bird has a consensus price target of $57.36, suggesting a potential downside of 0.02%. Given American Axle & Manufacturing's higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe American Axle & Manufacturing is more favorable than Blue Bird.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
American Axle & Manufacturing	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25
Blue Bird	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, AXL or BLBD?

Blue Bird has lower revenue, but higher earnings than American Axle & Manufacturing. Blue Bird is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than American Axle & Manufacturing, 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
American Axle & Manufacturing	$5.83B	0.12	$33.80M	$0.34	16.88
Blue Bird	$1.35B	1.35	$105.55M	$3.50	16.39

Does the media favor AXL or BLBD?

In the previous week, Blue Bird had 12 more articles in the media than American Axle & Manufacturing. MarketBeat recorded 15 mentions for Blue Bird and 3 mentions for American Axle & Manufacturing. Blue Bird's average media sentiment score of 0.52 beat American Axle & Manufacturing's score of 0.45 indicating that Blue Bird is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
American Axle & Manufacturing	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Blue Bird	7 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is AXL or BLBD more profitable?

Blue Bird has a net margin of 8.16% compared to American Axle & Manufacturing's net margin of 0.73%. Blue Bird's return on equity of 61.66% beat American Axle & Manufacturing's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
American Axle & Manufacturing	0.73%	8.90%	1.05%
Blue Bird	8.16%	61.66%	21.26%

Which has more risk and volatility, AXL or BLBD?

American Axle & Manufacturing has a beta of 1.59, indicating that its share price is 59% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Blue Bird has a beta of 1.5, indicating that its share price is 50% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of AXL or BLBD?

91.4% of American Axle & Manufacturing shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.6% of Blue Bird shares are held by institutional investors. 2.1% of American Axle & Manufacturing shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Blue Bird shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Blue Bird beats American Axle & Manufacturing on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.