Delving Into The Numbers For USA Truck, Inc. (NasdaqGS:USAK) as Value Comp Two Reaches 33

USA Truck, Inc. (NasdaqGS:USAK) has a Value Composite score of 33. Developed by James O’Shaughnessy, the VC score uses six valuation ratios. These ratios are price to earnings, price to cash flow, EBITDA to EV, price to book value, price to sales and shareholder yield.  The VC score is displayed as a number between 1 and 100. In general, a company with a score closer to 0 would be seen as undervalued, and a score closer to 100 would indicate an overvalued company. Removing the sixth ratio (shareholder yield) we can view the Value Composite 1 score which is currently sitting at 22.

Investing in the stock market can be highly challenging. Most investors have the same intentions of trying to maximize profits from investment capital. Realizing that there are many unknowns in the market, investors will need to make sure that they are constantly staying on top of the current economic scene. As most investors know, the market can see big shifts on a daily basis. Being able to deal with the constant ups and downs can be a huge asset to the individual investor’s psyche. Because stock market investing can get highly emotional at times, investors often have to find a way to keep a clear head and make the best possible decisions even when the market terrain gets rocky. Many successful investors have created a plan that they have been able to adhere to through the thick and thin. 

At the time of writing, USA Truck, Inc. (NasdaqGS:USAK) has a Piotroski F-Score of 5. The F-Score may help discover companies with strengthening balance sheets. The score may also be used to spot the weak performers. Joseph Piotroski developed the F-Score which employs nine different variables based on the company financial statement. A single point is assigned to each test that a stock passes. Typically, a stock scoring an 8 or 9 would be seen as strong. On the other end, a stock with a score from 0-2 would be viewed as weak.

Watching some historical volatility numbers on shares of USA Truck, Inc. (NasdaqGS:USAK), we can see that the 12 month volatility is presently 51.555100. The 6 month volatility is 48.792400, and the 3 month is spotted at 55.113800. Following volatility data can help measure how much the stock price has fluctuated over the specified time period. Although past volatility action may help project future stock volatility, it may also be vastly different when taking into account other factors that may be driving price action during the measured time period. 

Shifting gears, we can see that USA Truck, Inc. (NasdaqGS:USAK) has a Q.i. Value of 33.00000. The Q.i. Value ranks companies using four ratios. These ratios consist of EBITDA Yield, FCF Yield, Liquidity, and Earnings Yield. The purpose of the Q.i. Value is to help identify companies that are the most undervalued. Typically, the lower the value, the more undervalued the company tends to be.

USA Truck, Inc. (NasdaqGS:USAK) has a current MF Rank of 7595. Developed by hedge fund manager Joel Greenblatt, the intention of the formula is to spot high quality companies that are trading at an attractive price. The formula uses ROIC and earnings yield ratios to find quality, undervalued stocks. In general, companies with the lowest combined rank may be the higher quality picks. USA Truck, Inc. has a current ERP5 Rank of 9403. The ERP5 Rank may assist investors with spotting companies that are undervalued. This ranking uses four ratios. These ratios are Earnings Yield, ROIC, Price to Book, and 5 year average ROIC. When looking at the ERP5 ranking, it is generally considered the lower the value, the better.

USA Truck, Inc. has an M-score Beneish of -999.000000. This M-score model was developed by Messod Beneish in order to detect manipulation of financial statements. The score uses a combination of eight different variables. The specifics of the variables and formula can be found in the Beneish paper “The Detection of Earnings Manipulation”.

Investors may be interested in viewing the Gross Margin score on shares of USA Truck, Inc. (NasdaqGS:USAK). The name currently has a score of 17.00000. This score is derived from the Gross Margin (Marx) stability and growth over the previous eight years. The Gross Margin score lands on a scale from 1 to 100 where a score of 1 would be considered positive, and a score of 100 would be seen as negative.

We can now take a quick look at some historical stock price index data. USA Truck, Inc. (NasdaqGS:USAK) presently has a 10 month price index of 0.68279. The price index is calculated by dividing the current share price by the share price ten months ago. A ratio over one indicates an increase in share price over the period. A ratio lower than one shows that the price has decreased over that time period. Looking at some alternate time periods, the 12 month price index is 0.70773, the 24 month is 2.16271, and the 36 month is 1.16135. Narrowing in a bit closer, the 5 month price index is 0.81477, the 3 month is 0.82585, and the 1 month is currently 1.12825.

Active investors are constantly faced with tough decisions when managing their own stock portfolios. Deciding when to sell a certain stock may be just as vital as choosing which stocks to buy in the first place. There are bound to be extremes on both sides when analyzing buy and sell decisions. Maybe a well researched stock hasn’t seen the gains that were expected at the outset. When emotions take over, the investor may not be able to part with the stock. They may hold on to the equity with the hopes that someday it will bounce back. Of course this may happen eventually, but the situation could also worsen and the stock may keep losing. The same decisions sometimes have to be made when dealing with a winning stock. After a big run, the investor may have to decide whether to take the profits or hold off to see if the stock will continue to push upwards. These are no easy decisions for the individual investor. Being able to make the proper portfolio moves may take some time to master, but it may end up being highly important for continued, long-term success.