(By Rich Bieglmeier) Some studies suggest that being invested in the right sector(s) is equally, if not more important than owning the right company. iStock has read that the industry's return can account for as much as 95% of a stock's performance – the rising tide lifts all ships theory.
Investors might consider examining sector performance relative to the major indexes as a part of their weekly stock market research routine, iStock does. We break the sectors into three camps, outperformers, under-performers and neutral.
In this week's review, we noticed that Industrial Transportation stocks as a group appear ready to kick it into high gear. As usual, to find the candidates with ready to move now characteristics, we ran through the charts of qualifying stocks and then compared fundamentals – at least our favorites – to pick our favorite Industrial Transportation stock for the immediate-term.
It's a hanging chad, close call between three companies after running down our checklists.
Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (
GWR)
Celadon Group Inc. (
CGI)
But, by the slightest margins, in our view,
the edge belongs to Saia, Inc. (
SAIA). As we mentioned in one of our article,
10 Standout Stock Charts That Can Take The NASDAQ 100 Higher, new highs are typically followed by newer, higher highs. Saia's stock chart shows $27.50 a potential technical price target after bypassing $20. Stockchart.com's free, Point & Figure analysis has a bullish price objective of $26.50. The stock is currently trading at $22.93.
Additionally, improving relative strength and a recent bullish MACD crossover could help the stock find its way onto institutional, computer model buy lists.
Earnings are also going to improve according to Wall Street. The regional and inter regional less-than-truckload company is forecasted to grow profits more than 100% in 2012 and by nearly 27% next year.
When compared to SAIA's current P/E of 22.92 and forward multiple of 11.30, the stock price appears discounted. In fact, Saia, Inc's price to sales of 0.32 versus the industry average of 0.63 shows the price should have some upward mobility, especially with the trucker's profits slated to grow considerably faster than its peers.
Based on 2013's consensus eps forecast of $2.03, we expect Saia, Inc. (SAIA) to trade at 15 to 18 times earnings, putting our 12-18 month price target at $30.45 to $36.54.