Forward Air
FWRD on Nasdaq. Forward AIR moves freight by truck, air, sea and warehouse for businesses. Market value $509m.
Price checks use the past 12 months to June 2026. Quality checks use five annual reports, the latest for the year to December 2025.
Recent profit includes a big one-time charge, so we price the company excluding that charge.
Should I look at this?
Not a fit for our list right now
Why it could be worth it
See Industrials stocks that passed both tests
This is not advice. Check the numbers below.
For every $100 of what the whole company costs, it produced $9.35 of spare cash in the past 12 months. A savings account pays about $4.
You pay 27.9 years of operating profit for the business. The average large US company costs around 18.
Each dollar kept in the business earns 10 cents a year. Above 10 is good.
Quality score: 58 of 100. Price score: 37 of 100. Our list needs 70 on quality and 60 on price.
$15.26 a share, 94% above its 1-year low
Over the past year the price has ranged from $7.86 to $31.18.
Pays no dividend
Prices from Tuesday’s close (6 October).
Five years of cash, in billions
Spare cash swings from quarter to quarter here: $48 million in the past 12 months, $15 million in the year to December 2025.
| Revenue | |||||
| Revenue | $1.4bn | $1.7bn | $1.4bn | $2.5bn | $2.5bn |
| Operating margin | |||||
| Operating margin | 10.6% | 14.7% | 6.4% | -43.0% | 1.5% |
| Debt to equity | |||||
| Debt to equity | 0.29 | 0.19 | 0.05 | 8.54 | 15.22 |
| Shares outstanding | |||||
| Shares outstanding | 0.03bn | 0.03bn | 0.03bn | 0.03bn | 0.03bn |
Health checks
- Free cash flow positive4 of 5 years
- Accounting looks honest (Beneish)Not enough data
- Financial strength (Piotroski)3 of 8 checks we could run
- Profit backed by cash (accruals)Yes
- Debt15.22× equity
- Revenue growth, five yearsStrong, 14.5% a year
- Buying back its own sharesNo, 27% more shares since 2021
The quarter to June 2026
How the business did, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Sales: $673 million last quarter, up 9% on a year ago.
- A loss of $207 million, compared with a loss of $13 million a year ago.
- It loses 7 cents on each $1 of sales, after keeping 5 cents a year earlier.
- Spare cash over the past 12 months: $48 million, up from $8 million.
- 7% more shares than a year ago. Each share owns a bit less of the company.
- Debt is $1.6 billion more than cash, about the same as a year ago.
- Sales grew on a year ago in 1 of the last 4 quarters.
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $656m |
| December 2024 | $633m |
| March 2025 | $613m |
| June 2025 | $619m |
| September 2025 | $632m |
| December 2025 | $631m |
| March 2026 | $582m |
| June 2026 | $673m |
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | -$73m |
| December 2024 | -$36m |
| March 2025 | -$51m |
| June 2025 | -$13m |
| September 2025 | -$16m |
| December 2025 | -$28m |
| March 2026 | -$34m |
| June 2026 | -$207m |
From the company's quarterly reports to the SEC.
Dates
- Next results (estimated)
- n/a
- Last annual report (10-K)
- 11 March 2026
- Next quarterly (estimated, 10-Q)
- 4 November 2026
Who owns it
None of the long-term investors we follow own it. 186 funds in all.
Sold out this quarter
- Irenic CapitalAdam KatzSold out
- Royce & AssociatesChuck RoyceSold out
Largest holders overall
- Clearlake Capital Group, L.P.$52m
- BlackRock$37mCut
- FMR$27mAdded
- Bracebridge Capital$19mNew
- Vanguard Capital Management$16mAdded
- Private Management Group$15m
- Cibc World Market$14mAdded
- D. E. Shaw$14mNew
- HRT Financial LP$11mAdded
- Barclays$10mAdded
From 13F filings for the quarter ended 30 June 2026.
Big holders and activists
5 investors own more than 5%.
- Clearlake Capital Group, L.P.Strategic holderat least 12.6%(filed with 2 related holders)Since 3 July 2025
What they said
Item 4 of the Initial Statement is hereby amended and restated as follows: In connection with the publicly announced review of strategic alternatives by the Board of Directors of the Issuer (the "Board"), the Reporting Persons anticipate, subject to further due diligence and…
Read the filing - Barclays PLCPassive investor7.8%Since 30 June 2026
- FMR LLCPassive investorat least 6.4%(filed with 1 related holder)Since 30 June 2026
- BlackRock, Inc.Passive investor5.4%−5.5 ptsSince 30 June 2026
- Bracebridge Capital, LLCPassive investorat least 5.1%(filed with 3 related holders)Since 23 July 2026
- Cetus Capital VI, L.P.Passive investorSold down below 5%Since 31 March 2026
- The Vanguard GroupPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 13 March 2026
| Holder | Stake | Since | |
|---|---|---|---|
Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. Strategic holder | at least 12.6% (filed with 2 related holders) | 3 July 2025 | What they saidItem 4 of the Initial Statement is hereby amended and restated as follows: In connection with the publicly announced review of strategic alternatives by the Board of Directors of the Issuer (the "Board"), the Reporting Persons anticipate, subject to further due diligence and… Read the filing |
Barclays PLC Passive investor | 7.8% | 30 June 2026 | |
FMR LLC Passive investor | at least 6.4% (filed with 1 related holder) | 30 June 2026 | |
BlackRock, Inc. Passive investor | 5.4%−5.5 pts | 30 June 2026 | |
Bracebridge Capital, LLC Passive investor | at least 5.1% (filed with 3 related holders) | 23 July 2026 | |
Cetus Capital VI, L.P. Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 31 March 2026 | |
The Vanguard Group Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 13 March 2026 |
From Schedule 13D and 13G filings: anyone owning more than 5% must file one.
What insiders did
No insider bought or sold on the open market in the last 12 months.
From Form 4 filings: insiders must report trades in their own company's shares within two days.
Warning signs in its filings
Problems the company itself reported to the SEC, in its own words.
None of the serious warning signs we check for were found. 1 thing worth knowing.
We look for five warning signs: doubt it can keep going, weak checks on its own accounts, a notice that its past accounts can't be relied on, a change of auditor, and one customer bringing in a big share of sales. We don't check lawsuits, investigations or debt yet.
We checked the auditor's report, internal controls, restatement notices, auditor changes and big customers in the 10-K filed 11 Mar 2026, plus the 10-Q filed 5 Aug 2026 and 6 later 8-Ks.
Changed auditor
Worth knowingThe company changed its auditor (the firm that checks its books) in the last two years.
“On March 24, 2025, EY was dismissed as authorized by the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors (“Audit Committee”).”
From an 8-K filed 27 March 2025: Change of auditor. Read it in the filing
A 10-K is the yearly report every US company files with the SEC. An 8-K is a short notice of a big event.
What could go wrong
- It carries a lot of debt: 15.2× its equity.
- It isn't cheap on profits: 27.9× operating profit.
Whether the price already reflects the risks is what the deep dive is for.
The deep dive
Everything above is arithmetic on public filings. The deep dive reads the last ten years of annual reports, the proxy statements, and the earnings calls, then argues the case the way Buffett, Klarman, and Hohn would, and checks every claim against the source.
- What the business is worth, as a range, and the margin of safety at today’s price
- Prices to start buying, buy, and buy hard
- The three things that would make this a mistake
- Every number footnoted to the filing it came from
Your first deep dive is free.
Not advice. Numbers on this page come from SEC filings and are updated each night; prices are updated again after the US market closes. The five-year figures are rounded.