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US manufacturer of school buses, including diesel, propane, gasoline and electric models, sold mainly to school districts.
US manufacturer of school buses, including diesel, propane, gasoline and electric models, sold mainly to school districts.
Sells buses through independent dealers who win district bids, with parts and service to the installed fleet giving steadier income. Its two main rivals are owned by truck groups, while Blue Bird is a standalone specialist, and electric buses depend on federal and state clean-bus funding.
Moat: narrow (brand, distribution, regulatory licence). Long-standing dealer network and safety-certification track record in a niche vehicle category.
Headquarters: Fort Valley, Georgia, United States · Founded: 1927 · Employees: 2,012
Size Blue Bird (BLBD) is a United States Consumer Discretionary company (Motor Vehicles) with a market value of $1.82B, the 1862nd largest of 3,117 United States companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at $58.09 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares fell 18.2%, against -13.9% for the median peer and -1.1% for the United States market (cap-weighted) — 9th lowest of 20 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 13.5% over the last twelve months (peer median +6.1%); the operating margin is 11.8% (peer median 3.8%).
Valuation It trades at 12.8× forward earnings against a peer median of 12.3× (6th most expensive of 13).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 4% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +11%, so the hurdle is -7 pp: the price already allows for a slowdown.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 11.2 points above its cost of capital (11.7% WACC).
Short interest Short interest is 13.6% of the free float (15 Oct 2026).
Next results Next results expected around 14 Dec 2026 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $1.61B | $1.48B | $1.35B | $1.13B | $801M |
| Revenue growth | — | +10% | +19% | +41% | — |
| Gross profit | $332M | $304M | $255M | $137M | $35.4M |
| EBITDA | $212M | $182M | $153M | $68.8M | -$25.3M |
| Net income | $282M | $128M | $106M | $23.8M | -$45.8M |
| Free cash flow | $153M | $153M | $95.8M | $111M | -$33.6M |
| Capital expenditure | $27.4M | $22.9M | $15.3M | $8.52M | $6.45M |
| Total debt | $116M | $96.6M | $101M | $137M | $179M |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Bird BLBD | $1.82B | -18% | +13% | 12% | 12.8× | 3.7% |
| Daimler Truck DTG.DE | $34.7B | -1% | -14% | 5% | 10.6× | 9.8% |
| Traton 8TRA.DE | $18.9B | +2% | +1% | 6% | 6.1× | n/a |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | BLBD | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +3.4% | -1.9% | 6th highest of 21 |
| 6-month return | -18.2% | -13.9% | 9th lowest of 20 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -30.3% | -35.6% | 9th highest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +13.5% | +6.1% | 7th highest of 21 |
| Operating margin | 11.8% | 3.8% | 5th highest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 12.8× | 12.3× | 6th most expensive of 13 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 3.7% | 4.1% | 7th least demanding of 13 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +11.0% | +5.4% | 4th highest of 13 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | -7.3 pp | +0.4 pp | 6th least demanding of 13 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | +11.2 pp | +0.2 pp | 3rd highest of 20 |
| EV / EBITDA | 8.6× | 10.4× | 4th cheapest of 9 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | -0.0× | -0.8× | 4th most indebted of 9 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Bird BLBD | United States | $1.82B | -18% | +13% | 12% | 12.8× | 3.7% | +11.0% |
| Ola Electric Mobility OLAELEC.NS | India | $1.81B | -3% | -49% | -83% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Zhejiang Taotao Vehicles 301345.SZ | China | $1.91B | -54% | +53% | 25% | 11.9× | 2.2% | +23.3% |
| Jiangling Motors 000550.SZ | China | $1.70B | -12% | +7% | 1% | 11.9× | n/a | n/a |
| Xuzhou Handler Special Vehicle 300201.SZ | China | $1.64B | -9% | +18% | 22% | 22.5× | 22.0% | -3.3% |
| Dongfeng Automobile 600006.SS | China | $1.53B | -24% | -5% | -13% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| China Railway Materials 000927.SZ | China | $2.20B | -14% | +1% | 2% | n/a | 6.3% | -5.0% |
| Sanyang Motor 2206.TW | Taiwan | $1.43B | +8% | -3% | 8% | n/a | 1.2% | +9.0% |
| Thule THULE.ST | Sweden | $2.39B | -6% | +2% | 17% | 18.3× | 9.3% | +5.9% |
| Lucid LCID | United States | $1.30B | -48% | +67% | -259% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Force Motors FORCEMOT.NS | India | $2.64B | -8% | +16% | 12% | n/a | 25.2% | +35.4% |
| Aima Technology 603529.SS | China | $2.67B | -11% | -11% | 5% | 12.7× | n/a | n/a |
| Tianjin FUJI-TA Bicycle Industrial 603468.SS | China | $1.19B | n/a | +3% | 8% | n/a | 13.5% | +4.9% |
| Beiqi Foton Motor 600166.SS | China | $2.88B | -31% | +13% | 1% | 10.1× | -1.2% | +1.3% |
| Brilliance China Automotive 1114.HK | Hong Kong | $1.15B | -40% | +18% | -30% | 6.0× | n/a | n/a |
| Tianrun Industry Technology 002283.SZ | China | $1.14B | -39% | +31% | 9% | 16.0× | 6.1% | -1.7% |
| Trigano TRI.PA | France | $2.93B | -16% | +2% | 9% | 9.4× | -6.0% | +10.9% |
| Aerosun 600501.SS | China | $1.10B | -28% | +10% | -5% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Giant Manufacturing 9921.TW | Taiwan | $1.06B | +29% | -15% | 2% | 18.1× | 1.3% | -3.0% |
| Mitsubishi Motor 7211.T | Japan | $3.21B | +13% | +5% | 3% | 17.9× | n/a | n/a |
| Yadea 1585.HK | Hong Kong | $3.36B | -28% | +13% | 7% | 8.9× | -11.2% | +13.0% |