HTLDHeartland Express, Inc.
Is it safe?
Strong, no red flags: a safe balance sheet and comfortable debt (AA).
Financially healthy, low distress risk Altman Z-score, a bankruptcy-risk model from five balance-sheet ratios.
Rock-solid balance sheet, low leverage. A rule of thumb on leverage, not a credit rating.
Moderate price swings, typical volatility. Worst drawdown -70% · now 31% below its 52-week high.
Against the whole market›
Percentile against every name Ryufin tracks. Higher is better; the tick marks the middle of the market. Context, not one of the checks above.
Where this answer is blind. Altman sits structurally low for utilities and pipelines; Beneish runs high for fast growers, since sales growth alone lifts it; banks and REITs are excluded.
Can HTLD take a bad year?
Heartland Express, Inc. carries $73M of net debt at 1.24× EBITDA: a load its earnings can carry.
Net debt · as at Q2 2026 · under two and a half years of EBITDA, comfortable
- Net debt / EBITDA
- 1.24×
Net debt / EBITDA · 3.13× a year ago · the load is coming down
- Altman Z-score
- 3.28
Altman Z-score · safe zone, above 3
- Cash runway
- 0.7 years
Cash runway · burning $21M a quarter at the current rate
Details›
- Total debtQ2 2026
- $135M
- Cash and short-term investments
- $62M
- Net debt
- $73M
- EBITDA, trailing twelve months
- $58M
- Operating profit, trailing twelve months
- −$17M
- Debt / equity
- 0.18×
- Total debt / EBITDA
- 2.31×
- Annualised volatilitytwo years of daily moves
- 38%
- Worst drawdown on file
- −70%
- Below its 52-week high
- 31%
Balance sheet from SEC filings; drawdown and volatility from end-of-day closes; Altman Z from the filed statements.