Baird cuts target for Heartland Express stock to USD 12.00

Published on 10/20/2026 at 19:09 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael Müller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWS

Q3 net income reached USD 1.00 million. Heartland Express stock costs EUR 9.23 on October 20, 2026, down 1.81 percent versus Tradegate close.

Baird target cut and earnings

Baird downgraded Heartland Express from Outperform to Neutral and cut its target from USD 16.00 to USD 12.00 on October 20, 2026.
Third-quarter revenue fell 9.00 percent year over year to USD 179.50 million, while net income reached USD 1.00 million.
Heartland Express stock costs EUR 9.23 at Lang & Schwarz on October 20, 2026 at 7:03 p.m. CEST, 1.81 percent below the Tradegate close of October 19, 2026.
The USD 12.00 target stands 15.94 percent above the Nasdaq price of USD 10.35 on October 20, 2026.

HTLD, US4223471040, Illustration mit AI erstellt.

Heartland Express (ISIN US4223471040) saw Baird downgrade the stock from Outperform to Neutral and cut its price target from USD 16.00 to USD 12.00 on October 20, 2026, according to Investing.com. The USD 12.00 target stands 15.94 percent above the Nasdaq price of USD 10.35 on October 20, 2026. Heartland Express stock was trading at EUR 9.23 at Lang & Schwarz on October 20, 2026 at 7:03 p.m. CEST, down 1.81 percent versus the Tradegate close of October 19, 2026.

Quarterly profit returns

Heartland Express reported third-quarter revenue of USD 179.50 million, down 9.00 percent from the year-ago period and below the USD 191.40 million consensus estimate, FreightWaves reported on October 20, 2026. Net income reached USD 1.00 million, or USD 0.01 per share, compared with a USD 8.30 million loss, or USD 0.11 per share, in the year-ago quarter.

Stock position in numbers

The Nasdaq quote stood at USD 10.35 at 1:07 p.m. EDT on October 20, 2026. Heartland Express had a market capitalization of USD 800.0 million, a 52-week range of USD 7.00 to USD 16.64, and a price-to-earnings ratio of negative 36.65. The euro quote was 44.53 percent below the USD 16.64 high only if currencies were mixed, so that comparison is omitted.

What does the target cut imply?

The immediate valuation reference is the revised USD 12.00 target, not the euro quotation. Baird's action gives the target a 15.94 percent premium to the latest Nasdaq price, while the rating moved two levels from Outperform to Neutral, according to Investing.com.

Peers and upcoming dates

MarketBeat lists October 29, 2026 as Heartland Express' next scheduled earnings date and gives a consensus estimate of USD 0.0264 earnings per share on USD 181.38 million revenue, MarketBeat reported on October 20, 2026. The estimate compares with third-quarter revenue of USD 179.50 million and net income of USD 1.00 million reported for the period.

Comparison with peers

Heartland Express: down 1.81 percent, price-to-earnings ratio negative 36.65, market capitalization USD 800.0 million.

Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings (NYSE, USD): up 0.79 percent, price-to-earnings ratio 246.84, market capitalization USD 10.4 billion.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ, USD): up 2.06 percent, price-to-earnings ratio 31.98, market capitalization USD 21.4 billion.

Stock remains below its yearly high

Heartland Express combines a return to quarterly profitability with falling revenue and a lower analyst target. The next scheduled date is October 29, 2026.

The further course of trading is shown by the continuously updated real-time quote of Heartland Express stock.