Benzinga | Sep 15, 2021 12:35PM EDT

Cowen Upgrades Knight-Swift To Outperform Citing Pricing Power

* Cowen analyst Jason Seidl upgraded Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc (NYSE:KNX) to Outperform from Market Perform with a price target of $62 (implying an upside of 18%), up from $59.

* Seidl states the consensus view appears to be underestimating the trucking industry's pricing power in 2022 and sees pricing to be up by a mid-single digits percentage.

* The analyst increased his "already-consensus estimates" to reflect the better pricing and what he projects to be flat fleet growth in 2022 and believes truckload carriers are positioned for higher than expected EPS growth next year.

* Recently, Raymond James initiated coverage on Knight-Swift with Outperform rating, and a price target of $60, implying an upside of 14%.

* Earlier, the company launched Iron Truck Services, which brings together services essential to transportation carriers and includes insurance, equipment maintenance, fuel purchasing, and truck sales and rentals.

* Price Action: KNX shares are trading higher by 1.94% at $52.75 on the last check Wednesday.