The ongoing supply chain issues and the surge in demand for trucking services should keep driving the trucking industry’s growth. Therefore, it we think it could be wise to bet on quality trucking stocks TFI International (NYSE:TFII), Schneider National (NYSE:SNDR), ArcBest Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCB), and Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN). So, let’s examine the qualities of these names.The trucking industry is facing a worsening labor-shortage issue. The federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate did not go down well with most trucking associations amid record-high driver shortages. However, according to Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, “The ironic thing is most truckers are not covered by this, because they’re driving a truck, they’re in a cab, they’re by themselves, they wouldn’t be covered by this.” This re-assurance has paved the way for some optimism in the industry. And investors’ interest in trucking stocks is partly evident in the SPDR S&P Transportation ETF’s (XTN) 5.8% gains over the past month versus the SPDR S&P 500 ETF’s (SPY) 3.2% returns.
President Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure spending is expected to rescue the country's ailing transportation systems, which has fostered a positive outlook on the trucking industry. With trucks predicted to be the predominant freight carriers in the future, the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics and Federal Highway Administration recently estimated that U.S. freight activity would surge by 50% in tonnage to 28.7 billion tons between 2020 - 2050.
Given this backdrop, we think it could be wise to bet on fundamentally strong trucking stocks TFI International Inc. (TFII), Schneider National, Inc. (SNDR), ArcBest Corporation (ARCB), and Marten Transport, Ltd. (MRTN).