Pamt (NASDAQ:PAMT) & J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) Critical Survey

Pamt (NASDAQ:PAMT) and J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) are both transportation companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and dividends.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

22.1% of Pamt shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 74.9% of J.B. Hunt Transport Services shares are held by institutional investors. 27.2% of Pamt shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.1% of J.B. Hunt Transport Services shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

Pamt has a beta of 1.22, indicating that its share price is 22% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a beta of 1.15, indicating that its share price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Pamt and J.B. Hunt Transport Services”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Pamt	$714.65 million	0.39	-$31.80 million	($1.46)	-8.79
J.B. Hunt Transport Services	$12.09 billion	1.32	$570.89 million	$5.56	28.78

J.B. Hunt Transport Services has higher revenue and earnings than Pamt. Pamt is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than J.B. Hunt Transport Services, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Pamt and J.B. Hunt Transport Services’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Pamt	-4.45%	-2.58%	-1.07%
J.B. Hunt Transport Services	4.72%	14.05%	6.83%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Pamt and J.B. Hunt Transport Services, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Pamt	0	1	0	0	2.00
J.B. Hunt Transport Services	0	5	13	0	2.72

Pamt presently has a consensus target price of $16.50, indicating a potential upside of 28.50%. J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a consensus target price of $191.11, indicating a potential upside of 19.41%. Given Pamt’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Pamt is more favorable than J.B. Hunt Transport Services.

Summary

J.B. Hunt Transport Services beats Pamt on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Pamt

PAMT Corp. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of truckload and logistics services through its subsidiaries. Its freight consists primarily of automotive parts, expedited goods, consumer goods, such as general retail store merchandise, and manufactured goods, such as heating and air conditioning units. The company was founded in June 1986 and is headquartered in Tontitown, AR.

About J.B. Hunt Transport Services

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. provides surface transportation, delivery, and logistic services in the United States. It operates through five segments: Intermodal (JBI), Dedicated Contract Services (DCS), Integrated Capacity Solutions (ICS), Final Mile Services (FMS), and Truckload (JBT). The JBI segment offers intermodal freight solutions. It operates 118,171 pieces of company-owned trailing equipment; owns and maintains its chassis fleet of 100,825 units; and manages a fleet of 5,944 company-owned tractors, 436 independent contractor trucks, and 7,567 company drivers. The DCS segment designs, develops, and executes supply chain solutions that support various transportation networks. As of December 31, 2023, it operated 12,574 company-owned trucks, 674 customer-owned trucks, and 4 contractor trucks. The company also operates 27,194 owned pieces of trailing equipment and 5,406 customer-owned trailers. The ICS segment provides freight brokerage and transportation logistics solutions; flatbed, refrigerated, expedited, and less-than-truckload, as well as dry-van and intermodal solutions; online multimodal marketplace; and logistics management for customers to outsource their transportation functions. The FMS segment offers delivery services through 1,166 company-owned trucks, 225 customer-owned trucks, and 20 independent contractor trucks; and 1,212 owned pieces of trailing equipment and 102 customer-owned trailers. The JBT segment provides dry-van freight services by utilizing tractors and trailers operating over roads and highways through 27 company-owned tractors and 13,561 company-owned trailers. It also transports or arranges for the transportation of freight, such as general merchandise, specialty consumer items, appliances, forest and paper products, food and beverages, building materials, soaps and cosmetics, automotive parts, agricultural products, electronics, and chemicals. The company was incorporated in 1961 and is headquartered in Lowell, Arkansas.