Last update on 2024-06-07

Marten Transport (MRTN) - Piotroski F-Score Analysis for Year 2023 (Final Score: 5/9)

Piotroski F-Score analysis for Marten Transport (MRTN) in 2023 yields a score of 5/9. Explore criteria including profitability, liquidity, and leverage.

Short Analysis - Piotroski Score: 5

We're running Marten Transport (MRTN) against the Piotroski 9-criteria scoring system to assess profitability, liquidity, and operating efficiency:

The analysis reviews Marten Transport (MRTN) using the Piotroski F-Score, a method that assesses a firm's financial health based on profitability, liquidity, and operational efficiency. Marten Transport has a Piotroski F-Score of 5 out of 9, indicating moderate financial strength. The company posted a positive net income of $70.373M and a robust cash flow from operations at $164.378M for 2023. However, there were concerns such as declining ROA (Return on Assets), increased leverage, a drop in the current ratio, declining gross margin, and a reduced asset turnover ratio. Moreover, the share count decreased, indicating a positive move from share buybacks. Historically, the company has showcased consistent financial robustness except for the recent dip in some ratios.

Insights for Value Investors Seeking Stable Income

Based on the analyses, Marten Transport (MRTN) appears to be a moderately strong investment. The company shows solid profitability and cash flow, despite some declines in efficiency metrics and slight increases in leverage. These factors might warrant a deeper investigation if you're considering MRTN for long-term investment. The company's long-term performance suggests a good ability to generate cash and remain profitable, but potential investors should keep an eye on the scoress showing slight deterioration. It might be worth looking into, especially if you're interested in steady cash flow and moderate risk.

For those who are interested in delving deeper into the specifics, the subsequent section provides a comprehensive exploration of the criteria.

Profitability of Marten Transport (MRTN)

Company has a positive net income?

Net income represents a company's total earnings, crucial for assessing profitability and business efficiency. If positive, it indicates profitability and adds one point.

Marten Transport (MRTN) reported a net income of $70,373,000 in 2023. Comparing its performance over the past 20 years, this positive net income evidences consistent profitability, though it's slightly lower than 2021's $85,428,000 and 2022's $110,354,000. Despite the dip, the firm's ability to generate a positive net income is commendable. Thus, for this criterion, we assign 1 point.

Company has a positive cash flow?

Cash Flow from Operations (CFO) pertains to the cash that a company generates from its regular business operations. It is crucial because it indicates whether a company can generate sufficient positive cash flow to maintain and grow its operations without requiring external financing.

Marten Transport (MRTN) reported a CFO of $164,378,000 in 2023, which is positive. With consistent positive CFO over the past 20 years, fluctuating within the range of $39,551,000 in 2003 to $219,489,000 in 2022, it demonstrates financial robustness. The positive CFO in 2023 continues this trend, indicative of solid operational performance and efficient cash management. This criterion garners a point for Marten Transport.

Return on Assets (ROA) are growing?

Change in ROA assesses the company’s ability to manage and generate profit from its assets, providing insight into management’s efficiency.

In 2023, Marten Transport's ROA decreased to 0.072 from 0.1202 in 2022. This signifies a decline in asset profitability. The operating cash flow has generally increased over 20 years, hitting $164.38M in 2023 from $39.55M in 2003, showing robust operational performance. The industry median ROA has decreased from 0.5162 in 2003 to 0.1488 in 2023, indicating declining asset efficiency across peers. Thus, Marten Transport's ROA decline sets a worrying trend against a generally falling median. In this criterion, Marten Transport scores 0.

Operating Cashflow are higher than Netincome?

Operating Cash Flow higher than Net Income

In 2023, Marten Transport (MRTN) exhibited an Operating Cash Flow of $164,378,000 compared to a Net Income of $70,373,000. This results in a positive indicator for the company, adding 1 point, as the Operating Cash Flow is convincingly higher than the Net Income. This trend is encouraging as it implies that the cash-generating ability of the company's core operations is robust. Healthy operating cash flow further cushions the company during tougher economic times. Analyzing the historical data over the last 20 years, we notice regular instances where operating cash flow has outstripped net income, underscoring MRTN’s proficiency in maintaining solid liquidity. Particularly remarkable years are 2015, with operating cash flow of $128,238,000 versus net income of $35,745,000, and 2019 showcasing $153,180,000 against $61,071,000, which exhibits consistency in maintaining this healthy disparity.

Liquidity of Marten Transport (MRTN)

Leverage is declining?

Leverage measures the amount of debt used by a company to finance its operations. A lower leverage generally implies a stronger financial position.

Marten Transport's leverage increased from 0.0003 in 2022 to 0.0004 in 2023, indicating a higher reliance on debt. This increase is minor, especially considering the historically low leverage values observed over the last two decades. For example, the leverage was as high as 0.1306 in 2006 and has significantly reduced since then. Nevertheless, the current trend signifies a slight deterioration in financial robustness for 2023, thus earning a score of 0 for this criterion.

Current Ratio is growing?

The current ratio, a key liquidity metric, reflects a company's ability to cover its short-term liabilities with short-term assets. It's vital for evaluating financial health.

Marten Transport's current ratio decreased from 1.8972 in 2022 to 1.7832 in 2023. Given the criterion, this results in 0 points. Notably, across the past two decades, Marten's ratio consistently surpassed the industry median. Despite the decline, 2023's 1.7832 remains above the 1.3866 industry median, suggesting better liquidity than most peers. Maintaining a historically stronger liquidity position signals prudent financial management, but the dip signifies a need for cautious future liquidity monitoring.

Number of shares not diluted?

Changes in shares outstanding is a key metric to analyze a company's capital structure, affecting EPS and stockholder equity.

For Marten Transport (MRTN), shares outstanding decreased from 81,692,000 in 2022 to 81,272,000 in 2023 for a change of 420,000 shares. This decrease is a favorable indicator under Piotroski’s F-Score criteria, resulting in adding 1 point. Historically, the shares outstanding have fluctuated with notable highs in 2013 and 2014, suggesting periods of issuance or buybacks. This trend is good as a reduction in shares can indicate share buybacks, which often reflect management's confidence in the business and can enhance shareholder value by increasing EPS.

Operating of Marten Transport (MRTN)

Cross Margin is growing?

Gross Margin measures the percentage of revenue that exceeds the cost of goods sold (COGS). A higher Gross Margin indicates better efficiency in converting revenue into actual profit, making it a critical metric for evaluating a company's operational performance.

In 2023, Marten Transport's Gross Margin was 0.1668, down from 0.1887 in 2022. This signifies a decrease, indicating lower efficiency in retaining revenue after COGS. Over the last 20 years, the company's Gross Margin peaked at 0.5949 in 2009 but has generally declined since then. The industry median also showed variability, peaking at 0.6331 in 2009 and ending at 0.1488 in 2023. Both Marten Transport and the industry faced declining Gross Margins, but Marten Transport's decline is more pronounced. Therefore, for this criterion, Marten Transport would score 0 points.

Asset Turnover Ratio is growing?

Change in Asset Turnover signifies how efficiently a company is using its assets to generate revenue.

From the provided information, Marten Transport's Asset Turnover has decreased from 1.3765 in 2022 to 1.1569 in 2023. This drop signifies a reduction in the company's efficiency in utilizing its assets to produce revenue. Historically, looking at the data from the past 20 years, Marten Transport has experienced fluctuations in its Asset Turnover ratio, with previous highs around 1.5 and lows near 1.0. Therefore, the decline noted in 2023 follows a historical trend of volatility. Given the decrease noted from 2022 to 2023, a score of 0 should be assigned to this Piotroski criterion.