Deutsche Bank Has Hold On Arkansas Best

Deutsche Bank is out with a research report on Arkansas Best Corp. ABFS and trucking in general. It has a Hold rating on shares. In a note to clients, Deutsche Bank writes, "This morning, Ceridian and UCLA School of Management reported that the Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index increased 2.2% y/y in June. The unadjusted index was up 2.9% m/m (which was above both June's 5- and 10-year m/m average increase of up 1.5% m/m, respectively). The season- ally and workday adjusted Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce index was up 1.0% m/m in June. We believe truckers will likely highlight June's strength and an improving pricing environment on upcoming Q2 earnings reports and conference calls. We continue to like the LTLs into earnings and are Buyers of ODFL ($38.91) and CNW ($40.69) ahead of earnings and see positive near-term catalysts for ABFS (Hold, $26.51). For the TLs, we see upside potential for WERN (Buy, $25.60) and SWFT (Buy, $13.81). Figure 1 below looks at the Ceridian Pulse Of Commerce Index readings as well as y/y changes in the index since 2002." Shares of ABFS are up 32 cents to $26.58.