Forward Air price target raised to $17 from $14 at Baird

Baird analyst Garrett Holland raised the firm’s price target on Forward Air to $17 from $14 and keeps a Neutral rating on the shares ahead of the Q2 report. Fundamentals remain soft for the transportation and logistics sector, but in Q2 the companies should see modest sequential earnings improvement, the analyst tells investors in a research note. As such, the firm thinks fewer earnings misses are likely relative to Q1. While there is still risk to second half of 2024 estimates without some seasonality and early-2025 estimates without a sharper freight market inflection, a cyclical recovery “is more a question of when than if at this advanced stage of the freight recession,” contends Baird.