Over the past six months, ArcBest has been a great trade, beating the S&P 500 by 27.3%. Its stock price has climbed to $100.18, representing a healthy 33.8% increase. This run-up might have investors contemplating their next move.
Is now the time to buy ArcBest, or should you be careful about including it in your portfolio? Check out our in-depth research report to see what our analysts have to say, it’s free.
Why Do We Think ArcBest Will Underperform?
We’re glad investors have benefited from the price increase, but we're sitting this one out for now. Here are three reasons we avoid ARCB and a stock we'd rather own.
1. Weak Sales Volumes Indicate Waning Demand
Revenue growth can be broken down into changes in price and volume (the number of units sold). While both are important, volume is the lifeblood of a successful Ground Transportation company because there’s a ceiling to what customers will pay.
ArcBest’s units sold came in at 20,163 in the latest quarter, and over the last two years, averaged 3% year-on-year growth. This performance was underwhelming and suggests it might have to lower prices or invest in product improvements to accelerate growth, factors that can hinder near-term profitability. 
2. EPS Barely Growing
Analyzing the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) shows whether a company's incremental sales were profitable – for example, revenue could be inflated through excessive spending on advertising and promotions.
ArcBest’s EPS grew at a weak 2.8% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years, lower than its 6.4% annualized revenue growth. This tells us the company became less profitable on a per-share basis as it expanded.
3. New Investments Fail to Bear Fruit as ROIC Declines
A company’s ROIC, or return on invested capital, shows how much operating profit it makes compared to the money it has raised (debt and equity).
We like to invest in businesses with high returns, but the trend in a company’s ROIC is what often surprises the market and moves the stock price. Over the last few years, ArcBest’s ROIC has unfortunately decreased significantly. We like what management has done in the past, but its declining returns are perhaps a symptom of fewer profitable growth opportunities.
Final Judgment
We see the value of companies helping their customers, but in the case of ArcBest, we’re out. With its shares beating the market recently, the stock trades at 23.4× forward P/E (or $100.18 per share). This valuation is reasonable, but the company’s shaky fundamentals present too much downside risk. There are more exciting stocks to buy at the moment. Let us point you toward the most entrenched endpoint security platform on the market.
Stocks We Like More Than ArcBest
The market’s up big this year - but there’s a catch. Just 4 stocks account for half the S&P 500’s entire gain. That kind of concentration makes investors nervous, and for good reason. While everyone piles into the same crowded names, smart investors are hunting quality where no one’s looking - and paying a fraction of the price. Check out the high-quality names we’ve flagged in our Top 5 Growth Stocks for this month. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 244% over the last five years (as of June 30, 2025).
Stocks that have made our list include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,326% between June 2020 and June 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-micro-cap company Kadant (+351% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today.
