Yahoo Finance At US$19.57, Is It Time To Put Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN) On Your Watch List?
Marten Transport, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRTN), which is in the transportation business, and is based in United States, saw a decent share price growth in the teens level on the NASDAQGS over the last few months. With many analysts covering the stock, we may expect any price-sensitive announcements have already been factored into the stock’s share price. But what if there is still an opportunity to buy? Let’s take a look at Marten Transport’s outlook and value based on the most recent financial data to see if the opportunity still exists.
View our latest analysis for Marten Transport
What's the opportunity in Marten Transport?
According to my relative valuation model, the stock seems to be currently fairly priced. In this instance, I’ve used the price-to-earnings (PE) ratio given that there is not enough information to reliably forecast the stock’s cash flows. I find that Marten Transport’s ratio of 17.88x is trading slightly above its industry peers’ ratio of 17.17x, which means if you buy Marten Transport today, you’d be paying a relatively reasonable price for it. And if you believe Marten Transport should be trading in this range, then there isn’t really any room for the share price grow beyond what it’s currently trading. Is there another opportunity to buy low in the future? Since Marten Transport’s share price is quite volatile, we could potentially see it sink lower (or rise higher) in the future, giving us another chance to buy. This is based on its high beta, which is a good indicator for how much the stock moves relative to the rest of the market.
Can we expect growth from Marten Transport?
Future outlook is an important aspect when you’re looking at buying a stock, especially if you are an investor looking for growth in your portfolio. Buying a great company with a robust outlook at a cheap price is always a good investment, so let’s also take a look at the company's future expectations. Though in the case of Marten Transport, it is expected to deliver a relatively unexciting earnings growth of 8.4%, which doesn’t help build up its investment thesis. Growth doesn’t appear to be a main reason for a buy decision for Marten Transport, at least in the near term.
What this means for you:
Are you a shareholder? It seems like the market has already priced in MRTN’s growth outlook, with shares trading around its fair value. However, there are also other important factors which we haven’t considered today, such as the financial strength of the company. Have these factors changed since the last time you looked at MRTN? Will you have enough conviction to buy should the price fluctuate below the true value?
Are you a potential investor? If you’ve been keeping tabs on MRTN, now may not be the most advantageous time to buy, given it is trading around its fair value. However, the positive growth outlook may mean it’s worth diving deeper into other factors in order to take advantage of the next price drop.
Price is just the tip of the iceberg. Dig deeper into what truly matters – the fundamentals – before you make a decision on Marten Transport. You can find everything you need to know about Marten Transport in the latest infographic research report. If you are no longer interested in Marten Transport, you can use our free platform to see my list of over 50 other stocks with a high growth potential.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.
If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
