FWRDFORWARD AIR CORP

Arrangement Of Transportation Of Freight & Cargo

Revenue: $2.5B; 0.8% YoY
Operating margin: 1.5%; 103% YoY
EBITDA: $189M; 121% YoY
Market cap: $594M
Employees: 6,062; $412K revenue each
Net debt / EBITDA: 0.1×; $22M net debt
AI in 10-K: 0.7; mentions per 10K words

Takeover score 3 of 13

Fixable underperformance 1 of 7

TSR below peersYes
3 of 5 years
3+ of last 5 years
High CEO pay despite TSRNo
—
Median CEO pay ≥ $15M while TSR trails
Earnings not backed by cashNo
—
Cash flow under 80% of net income
Dilutive SBCNo
1% of revenue
Over 10% of revenue
Payouts exceed cash flowNo
0% of cash flow
Buybacks + dividends over cash flow
Goodwill-heavyNo
12% of assets
Over 40% of assets
Shareholder dissentNo
82% lowest support
Any vote under 80% support

Buyer economics 1 of 4

Low revenue per employeeNo
$412K · 33rd pct
Bottom quartile of its SIC industry
Quiet on AINo
0.7 per 10K words · 27th pct
Bottom quartile of AI mentions in 10-Ks
Net cashNo
0.1× EBITDA net debt
More cash than debt, positive EBITDA
Buyout-sizedYes
$594M market cap
Market cap $500M–$5B

Catalysts 1 of 2

Active 13DYes
1 filing
Active-intent 13D in 18 months
Net insider sellingNo
−$6M net
Net sales over $10M in 12 months

Financials

Metric	FY2021	FY2022	FY2023	FY2024	FY2025	YoY	Trend
Revenue	$1.4B	$1.7B	$1.4B	$2.5B	$2.5B	0.8%
Operating income	$147M	$248M	$88M	−$1.1B	$36M	103%
Net income	$106M	$193M	$167M	−$820M	−$104M	87%
Operating cash flow	$121M	$250M	$199M	−$69M	$44M	164%
Capex	$38M	$39M	$31M	$37M	$29M	21%
Stock-based comp	$11M	$11M	$11M	$10M	$13M	32%
Buybacks	$49M	$63M	$94M	$0	$0
Dividends	$23M	$26M	$25M	$0	$0

Deal filings

None.

13D filers

Filed	Filer	Form	Stake	Intent
Jul 3, 2025	CLEARLAKE CAPITAL GROUP, L.P.	SCHEDULE 13D/A	12.6%	Active
Aug 14, 2024	CLEARLAKE CAPITAL GROUP, L.P.	SC 13D	13.8%	Active
Aug 12, 2024	Ridgemont Equity Management III, LLC	SC 13D/A	10.2%	Passive
Feb 5, 2024	Ridgemont Equity Management III, LLC	SC 13D	0.1%	Passive
Feb 16, 2022	Ancora Advisors, LLC	SC 13D/A	0.5%	Passive
Feb 14, 2022	Ancora Advisors, LLC	SC 13D/A	0.6%	Passive
Feb 10, 2021	Ancora Advisors, LLC	SC 13D/A	0.0%	Passive

Insider trading

Open-market buys, 12 mo: $0 · 0
Open-market sells, 12 mo: $6M · 6
Net: −$6M

Pay vs performance

Year	CEO total comp	Comp actually paid	TSR (indexed)	Peer TSR
FY2025	—	—	33	135
FY2024	—	—	46	127
FY2023	—	—	90	120
FY2022	—	—	150	97
FY2021	—	—	173	121