Forward Air Corporation (FWRD) Stock

Forward Air Corporation (FWRD) is a Industrials stock trading at $17.55 (as of 2026-08-24), with a market capitalization of $592.85M. Figures are sourced from first-party U.S. SEC EDGAR filings and market data.

Forward Air Corporation and its subsidiaries operate as an asset-light freight and logistics provider in the United States and Canada across two segments: Expedited Freight and Intermodal. It offers less-than-truckload expedited services and related logistics support, as well as intermodal container drayage and warehouse/handling, serving freight forwarders, third-party logistics firms, airlines, steamship lines, retailers, and other transportation customers.

Understand Forward Air Corporation: how it makes money

Forward Air operates an asset-light freight and logistics business, providing expedited less-than-truckload and related handling services, plus intermodal services, and it makes money by charging for transportation and logistics execution rather than owning most transportation assets.

Because Forward Air is described as asset-light, its profit engine is the spread it earns by arranging and executing freight and logistics services through non-owned capacity, so earnings depend on how well its service mix (expedited, local pickup and delivery, final mile, consolidation and warehousing, customs brokerage) converts shipping demand into revenue and operating profit.

Revenue by segment (latest quarter)
Expedited	$0.5B
Intermodal	$0.1B

Business quality (Weak): Clear two-segment model (Expedited Freight and Intermodal) and an asset-light positioning. The provided operating metrics are mainly revenue-based labels, and the quarterly segment revenue inputs available here do not fully explain the reported consolidated revenue, which limits precision when tracking segment-level trends.

Bull case

Asset-light logistics model: The company is described as asset-light, operating as a freight and logistics provider that delivers services across expedited and intermodal operations.
Broad expedited service offering: Expedited Freight includes expedited regional, inter-regional and national less-than-truckload services, local pickup and delivery, and additional services such as final mile, truckload brokerage, shipment consolidation and deconsolidation, warehousing, and customs brokerage.

Bear case

Operating profitability is modest: For the latest quarter provided, operating margin is 3.5%, leaving limited cushion if costs rise faster than pricing or demand softens.
Intermodal is a small contributor: Intermodal revenue is provided as 0.06B versus Expedited at 0.54B, so weaker intermodal performance would likely have a smaller offsetting effect versus expedited.

Valuation — source: SEC EDGAR (first-party)
Price	$17.55
Market Cap	$592.85M
EV / EBITDA	281.4
Price / Sales	0.24
FCF Yield	18.3%

Profitability & Growth — source: SEC EDGAR
Revenue (TTM)	$2.50B
Net Margin	-4.3%
Revenue Growth (YoY)	0.8%
EPS Growth (YoY)	-88.5%

Financial Health — source: SEC EDGAR
Altman Z-Score	0.90 (distress)

Valuation vs Sector & Industry
Sector P/E (Industrials)	26.0
Industry P/E (Transportation)	17.0

Smart-Money Activity — SEC Form 4 / 13F / Congressional disclosures
Top Institutional Holder	CLEARLAKE CAPITAL GROUP, L.P. ($63.92M)
Institutional Holders Tracked	10

Company
Sector	Industrials
Industry	Transportation
CEO	Shawn Stewart
Employees	6,319
Country	US
IPO Date	1993-11-16

Related Companies (Transportation; 8 comparable transport companies)

Data as of 2026-08-24.

Figures sourced from U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC EDGAR) filings and market data. Not personalized investment advice.