BLBD vs CMI vs ALSN Stock Comparison

Blue Bird, Cummins and Allison Transmission Holdings Prices as of Oct 26, 2026 Peers: Industry group
BLBD Blue Bird Corp
$58.04 -0.1% 1M +2.9% 1Y
Market cap
$1.95B
P/E
6.9x
Revenue (TTM)
$1.61B
Div. yield
–
Heavy Equipment Industrials
6 wins
CMI Cummins Inc
$521.78 -0.7% 1M +23.8% 1Y
Market cap
$73.13B
P/E
26.9x
Revenue (TTM)
$34.71B
Div. yield
–
Heavy Equipment Industrials
1 win

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Blue Bird leads on 6 of the 12 questions below (Blue Bird 6, Allison Transmission Holdings 4, Cummins 1). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionBLBDCMIALSNLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $1.95B $73.13B $8.93B CMI
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 6.9x 26.9x 16.9x BLBD
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 13.0x 16.6x 14.0x BLBD
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +13.5% +2.9% +37.6% ALSN
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 17.5% 7.8% 12.0% BLBD
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 29.3% 13.6% 10.7% BLBD
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA -0.1x 0.7x 3.4x BLBD
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +2.9% +23.8% +29.5% ALSN
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +25.1%/yr +17.3%/yr +26.9%/yr ALSN
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 42.8% 37.2% 31.4% ALSN
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 76/100 60/100 58/100 BLBD

Percentile Scorecard

BLBDCMIALSN

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisBLBDCMIALSN
Valuation 94 #14 of 203 51 #101 of 203 74 #53 of 203
Growth 93 #15 of 187 54 #87 of 187 43 #107 of 187
Profitability 90 #19 of 185 71 #54 of 185 88 #23 of 185
Financial Health 71 #64 of 219 51 #107 of 219 14 #188 of 219
Shareholder Returns 32 #105 of 153 72 #44 of 153 68 #49 of 153
Overall 76 60 58
  • BLBD ranked among 222 companies in Machinery
  • CMI ranked among 222 companies in Machinery
  • ALSN ranked among 222 companies in Machinery

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodBLBDCMIALSNSPY
1 month -0.1%-0.7%-5.8% -0.8%
3 months -23.7%-21.1%-12.1% +3.5%
6 months -10.0%-21.0%-19.8% +7.0%
Year to date +23.5%+2.2%+9.5% +12.2%
1 year +2.9%+23.8%+29.5% +13.0%
3 years +211.4%+142.4%+106.6% +86.3%
3 years, per year +46.1%+34.4%+27.4% +23.1%
5 years +206.1%+122.2%+229.2% +68.6%
5 years, per year +25.1%+17.3%+26.9% +11.0%
10 years +294.6%+312.4%+269.1% +258.0%
10 years, per year +14.7%+15.2%+14.0% +13.6%

Risk

MeasureBLBDCMIALSNSPY
Volatility, 1Y 42.8%37.2%31.4% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 45.7%38.0%30.3% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 1.131.641.05 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.070.640.94 1.02
Max drawdown, 5Y -70.9%-30.8%-34.1% -25.4%
From 52-week high -28.8%-28.3%-21.2% -1.8%
52-week high $81.50$727.59$136.00 $779.14
52-week low $46.59$414.30$79.27 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleBLBDCMIALSN
P/E now vs peer median 7.1xmedian 26.0x 26.5xmedian 26.0x 16.8xmedian 26.0x
P/S now vs peer median 1.1xmedian 1.9x 2.1xmedian 1.9x 2.0xmedian 1.9x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 8.6xmedian 14.0x 15.0xmedian 14.0x 11.4xmedian 14.0x
P/FCF now vs peer median 12.0xmedian 21.4x 21.3xmedian 21.4x 12.0xmedian 21.4x
P/B now vs peer median 2.8xmedian 2.2x 5.2xmedian 2.2x 4.5xmedian 2.2x
PEG now vs peer median 0.05median 1.26 8.26median 1.26 -5.90median 1.26

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsBLBDCMIALSN
Revenue $1.61B $34.71B $4.40B
Gross profit $331.66M $8.79B $1.60B
Operating income $189.81M $3.89B $861.00M
Net income $281.81M $2.83B $529.00M
Free cash flow $153.14M $3.37B $737.00M
R&D – $1.44B $197.00M
EPS (diluted) $8.02 $19.60 $6.30
Cash & equivalents $116.82M $3.18B $399.00M
Total debt $86.81M $7.35B $4.14B
Shares (diluted) 35.15M 138.50M 84.00M
Enterprise value $1.08B $69.21B $5.82B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricBLBDCMIALSN
P/E 7.1x 26.5x 16.8x
P/FCF 12.0x 21.3x 12.0x
P/Operating cash flow 10.2x 15.5x 9.4x
P/S 1.1x 2.1x 2.0x
P/B 2.8x 5.2x 4.5x
P/Tangible book 3.8x 6.1x 23.8x
EV/EBITDA 8.6x 15.0x 11.4x
EV/EBIT 9.5x 19.3x 14.6x
EV/Revenue 1.1x 2.2x 2.9x
EV/FCF 11.8x 22.4x 17.1x
EV/Operating cash flow 10.0x 16.2x 13.4x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.05 8.26 -5.90

Growth

14 metrics
MetricBLBDCMIALSN
Revenue growth (1Y) 13.5% 2.9% 37.6%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 14.0% 2.5% 14.2%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 19.9% 1.7% 3.5%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 57.8% 4.8% 4.4%
Operating income growth (1Y) 33.3% -6.0% -13.9%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 598.6% 4.1% -0.2%
Net income growth (1Y) 143.2% -7.8% -30.6%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 160.8% 2.9% -5.4%
EPS growth (1Y) 125.4% -7.7% -29.8%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 155.1% 3.2% -2.8%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 8.4% 63.4% 14.2%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 16.5% 28.8% 7.1%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 7.0% 103.8% 12.7%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 13.0% 45.3% 6.8%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricBLBDCMIALSN
Gross margin 20.6% 25.3% 36.4%
EBITDA margin 13.1% 14.4% 25.1%
Operating margin 11.8% 11.2% 19.6%
Pretax margin 20.0% 11.1% 15.7%
Net margin 17.5% 7.8% 12.0%
FCF margin 9.5% 9.7% 16.7%
Operating cash flow margin 11.2% 13.4% 21.3%
Return on equity 58.9% 20.7% 27.3%
Return on assets 30.2% 8.1% 6.1%
Return on invested capital 29.3% 13.6% 10.7%
Return on capital employed 30.9% 16.0% 11.7%
Asset turnover 1.7x 1.0x 0.5x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 0.6x 1.6x 1.8x
Stock comp / revenue 0.5% – 0.7%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricBLBDCMIALSN
Debt / assets 7.4% 20.6% 47.5%
Debt / equity 0.1x 0.5x 2.1x
Net debt / EBITDA -0.1x 0.7x 3.4x
Debt / FCF 0.6x 2.2x 5.6x
Liabilities / assets 43.9% 61.0% 77.3%
Equity / assets 56.1% 39.0% 22.7%
Interest coverage 27.9x 12.1x –
Current ratio 1.6x 1.7x 1.8x
Quick ratio 0.5x 1.0x 1.0x
Cash ratio 0.4x 0.4x 0.3x
Altman Z-score 4.66 4.51 1.79

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricBLBDCMIALSN
Dividend yield – 1.6% 1.1%
Net buyback yield 0.4% 0.7% 1.4%
Shareholder yield 0.4% 2.2% 2.5%
Payout ratio (earnings) – – –
Payout ratio (FCF) – – –
Dividend growth (1Y) – – –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – – –

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusBLBDCMIALSN
Forward P/E 13.0xFY2026 16.6xFY2026 14.0xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $4.48FY2026 $31.39FY2026 $7.67FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +2.3%FY2026 +31.9%FY2026 +4.6%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after -6.9% +14.7% +45.5%
Revenue, next fiscal year $1.64BFY2026 $35.38BFY2026 $6.32BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +10.7%FY2026 +5.1%FY2026 +109.9%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +16.4% +11.3% +1.4%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersBLBDCMIALSN
Held by institutions 94.5% 85.4% 100.0%
Institutions holding 303 2,105 566
Change in shares held, QoQ -2.6% +1.0% +1.1%
Institutions buying 169 1,048 258
Institutions selling 100 728 229
Buyers to sellers 1.69 1.44 1.13

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

BLBDCMIALSN
BLBD 1.00 0.25 0.32
CMI 0.25 1.00 0.49
ALSN 0.32 0.49 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, BLBD, CMI and ALSN?

Cummins (CMI) is the largest by market capitalisation: Blue Bird (BLBD) $1.95B, Cummins (CMI) $73.13B, Allison Transmission Holdings (ALSN) $8.93B.

Which stock is cheaper, BLBD, CMI and ALSN?

Blue Bird (BLBD) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Blue Bird (BLBD) 6.9x, Cummins (CMI) 26.9x, Allison Transmission Holdings (ALSN) 16.9x). On next year's consensus earnings, Blue Bird (BLBD) is cheapest (Blue Bird (BLBD) 13.0x, Cummins (CMI) 16.6x, Allison Transmission Holdings (ALSN) 14.0x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Allison Transmission Holdings (ALSN) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Blue Bird (BLBD) +13.5%, Cummins (CMI) +2.9%, Allison Transmission Holdings (ALSN) +37.6%.

Which company is more profitable?

Blue Bird (BLBD) has the highest net margin (Blue Bird (BLBD) 17.5%, Cummins (CMI) 7.8%, Allison Transmission Holdings (ALSN) 12.0%). On return on invested capital, Blue Bird (BLBD) leads (Blue Bird (BLBD) 29.3%, Cummins (CMI) 13.6%, Allison Transmission Holdings (ALSN) 10.7%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Allison Transmission Holdings (ALSN) returned the most: Blue Bird (BLBD) +2.9%, Cummins (CMI) +23.8%, Allison Transmission Holdings (ALSN) +29.5%. Over five years, Allison Transmission Holdings (ALSN) compounded fastest (Blue Bird (BLBD) +25.1%/yr, Cummins (CMI) +17.3%/yr, Allison Transmission Holdings (ALSN) +26.9%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Allison Transmission Holdings (ALSN) has been the steadiest (Blue Bird (BLBD) 42.8%, Cummins (CMI) 37.2%, Allison Transmission Holdings (ALSN) 31.4%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, BLBD, CMI and ALSN?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Blue Bird (BLBD) leads on 6. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.