BLBD vs DAN vs MKL Stock Comparison

Blue Bird, Dana and Markel 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
7 wins
DAN DANA Inc
$27.05 -0.3% 1M +36.1% 1Y
Market cap
$2.94B
P/E
2.6x
Revenue (TTM)
$7.66B
Div. yield
0.02%
Heavy Equipment Industrials
2 wins
MKL Markel Group Inc.
$1,875.12 +8.5% 1M -0.2% 1Y
Market cap
$23.35B
P/E
10.2x
Revenue (TTM)
$15.51B
Div. yield
–
Property and Casualty Insurance Financial Services
2 wins

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Blue Bird leads on 7 of the 12 questions below (Blue Bird 7, Markel 2, Dana 2). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionBLBDDANMKLLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $1.95B $2.94B $23.35B MKL
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 6.9x 2.6x 10.2x DAN
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 13.0x 14.2x 18.8x BLBD
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +13.5% +3.7% +3.5% BLBD
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 17.5% 14.6% 14.7% BLBD
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 29.3% 0.0% 10.6% BLBD
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA -0.1x 1.8x — BLBD
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.02% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +2.9% +36.1% -0.2% DAN
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +25.1%/yr +4.0%/yr +7.6%/yr BLBD
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 42.8% 44.2% 19.9% MKL
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 76/100 61/100 43/100 BLBD

Percentile Scorecard

BLBDDANMKL

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

AxisBLBDDANMKL
Valuation 94 #14 of 203 95 #11 of 203 64 #43 of 119
Growth 93 #15 of 187 82 #35 of 187 11 #103 of 115
Profitability 90 #19 of 185 46 #100 of 185 55 #51 of 113
Financial Health 71 #64 of 219 21 #174 of 219 63 #43 of 114
Shareholder Returns 32 #105 of 153 64 #56 of 153 21 #85 of 107
Overall 76 61 43
  • BLBD ranked among 222 companies in Machinery
  • DAN ranked among 222 companies in Machinery
  • MKL ranked among 126 companies in Insurance

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodBLBDDANMKLSPY
1 month -0.1%-0.3%+8.5% -0.8%
3 months -23.7%-0.7%-7.0% +3.5%
6 months -10.0%-29.7%-1.1% +7.0%
Year to date +23.5%+13.8%-12.8% +12.2%
1 year +2.9%+36.1%-0.2% +13.0%
3 years +211.4%+114.3%+30.9% +86.3%
3 years, per year +46.1%+29.0%+9.4% +23.1%
5 years +206.1%+21.8%+44.0% +68.6%
5 years, per year +25.1%+4.0%+7.6% +11.0%
10 years +294.6%+78.5%+110.8% +258.0%
10 years, per year +14.7%+6.0%+7.7% +13.6%

Risk

MeasureBLBDDANMKLSPY
Volatility, 1Y 42.8%44.2%19.9% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 45.7%46.1%21.3% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 1.131.300.03 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.070.82-0.01 1.02
Max drawdown, 5Y -70.9%-69.7%-28.9% -25.4%
From 52-week high -28.8%-30.5%-14.5% -1.8%
52-week high $81.50$38.93$2,191.90 $779.14
52-week low $46.59$19.47$1,714.26 $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.

MultipleBLBDDANMKL
P/E now vs peer median 7.1xmedian 26.0x 2.6xmedian 26.0x 10.3xmedian 10.6x
P/S now vs peer median 1.1xmedian 1.9x 0.4xmedian 1.9x 1.5xmedian 1.4x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 8.6xmedian 14.0x 7.0xmedian 14.0x —median 7.6x
P/FCF now vs peer median 12.0xmedian 21.4x 20.3xmedian 21.4x 11.0xmedian 8.6x
P/B now vs peer median 2.8xmedian 2.2x 1.5xmedian 2.2x 1.2xmedian 1.5x
PEG now vs peer median 0.05median 1.26 0.02median 1.26 1.20median 0.52

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 monthsBLBDDANMKL
Revenue $1.61B $7.66B $15.51B
Gross profit $331.66M $725.00M $10.63B
Operating income $189.81M $210.00M $3.09B
Net income $281.81M $1.13B $2.32B
Free cash flow $153.14M $143.00M $2.12B
EPS (diluted) $8.02 $10.18 $181.44
Cash & equivalents $116.82M $331.00M $3.42B
Total debt $86.81M $1.34B $4.37B
Shares (diluted) 35.15M 109.50M 12.59M
Enterprise value $1.08B $1.25B -$43.32B

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
MetricBLBDDANMKL
P/E 7.1x 2.6x 10.3x
P/FCF 12.0x 20.3x 11.0x
P/Operating cash flow 10.2x 6.4x 10.0x
P/S 1.1x 0.4x 1.5x
P/B 2.8x 1.5x 1.2x
P/Tangible book 3.8x 1.5x 1.3x
EV/EBITDA 8.6x 7.0x –
EV/EBIT 9.5x 18.7x 3.5x
EV/Revenue 1.1x 0.5x 0.7x
EV/FCF 11.8x 27.4x 5.1x
EV/Operating cash flow 10.0x 8.6x 4.6x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.05 0.02 1.20

Growth

14 metrics
MetricBLBDDANMKL
Revenue growth (1Y) 13.5% 3.7% 3.5%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 14.0% -9.9% 1.0%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 19.9% 79.0% 7.4%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 57.8% -6.4% –
Operating income growth (1Y) 33.3% 307.9% -7.9%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 598.6% 6.3% 2.8%
Net income growth (1Y) 143.2% 28,400% 0.2%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 160.8% 83.0% 4.0%
EPS growth (1Y) 125.4% 6,201% 5.5%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 155.1% 108.3% 8.6%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 8.4% 49.3% 2.7%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 16.5% -8.6% -6.0%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 7.0% 180.4% 3.4%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 13.0% 5.2% -6.3%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricBLBDDANMKL
Gross margin 20.6% 9.5% 68.5%
EBITDA margin 13.1% 7.3% –
Operating margin 11.8% 2.7% 19.9%
Pretax margin 20.0% 1.0% 19.1%
Net margin 17.5% 14.6% 14.7%
FCF margin 9.5% 1.9% 13.7%
Operating cash flow margin 11.2% 6.0% 15.0%
Return on equity 58.9% 56.6% 12.5%
Return on assets 30.2% 18.6% 3.3%
Return on invested capital 29.3% 0.0% 10.6%
Return on capital employed 30.9% 5.3% –
Asset turnover 1.7x 1.3x 0.2x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 0.6x 0.4x 1.0x
Stock comp / revenue 0.5% 0.5% –

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricBLBDDANMKL
Debt / assets 7.4% 22.0% 6.1%
Debt / equity 0.1x 0.7x 0.2x
Net debt / EBITDA -0.1x 1.8x –
Debt / FCF 0.6x 9.4x 2.1x
Liabilities / assets 43.9% 67.6% 73.3%
Equity / assets 56.1% 32.4% 26.7%
Interest coverage 27.9x 1.5x 15.2x
Current ratio 1.6x 1.5x –
Quick ratio 0.5x 0.9x –
Cash ratio 0.4x 0.2x –
Altman Z-score 4.66 2.29 –

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricBLBDDANMKL
Dividend yield – 1.7% –
Net buyback yield 0.4% 19.3% 2.3%
Shareholder yield 0.4% 21.0% 2.3%
Payout ratio (earnings) – 4.5% –
Payout ratio (FCF) – 35.7% –
Dividend growth (1Y) – -12.1% –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – -4.2% –

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.

ConsensusBLBDDANMKL
Forward P/E 13.0xFY2026 14.2xFY2026 18.8xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $4.48FY2026 $1.90FY2026 $99.52FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +2.3%FY2026 +413.5%FY2026 -13.0%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after -6.9% +128.4% +7.3%
Revenue, next fiscal year $1.64BFY2026 $8.05BFY2026 $15.96BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +10.7%FY2026 +7.3%FY2026 -3.8%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +16.4% +34.2% +0.4%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersBLBDDANMKL
Held by institutions 94.5% 99.2% 76.8%
Institutions holding 303 342 926
Change in shares held, QoQ -2.6% +1.8% -0.2%
Institutions buying 169 168 424
Institutions selling 100 126 315
Buyers to sellers 1.69 1.33 1.35

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.

BLBDDANMKL
BLBD 1.00 0.27 0.09
DAN 0.27 1.00 0.01
MKL 0.09 0.01 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, BLBD, DAN and MKL?

Markel (MKL) is the largest by market capitalisation: Blue Bird (BLBD) $1.95B, Dana (DAN) $2.94B, Markel (MKL) $23.35B.

Which stock is cheaper, BLBD, DAN and MKL?

Dana (DAN) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Blue Bird (BLBD) 6.9x, Dana (DAN) 2.6x, Markel (MKL) 10.2x). On next year's consensus earnings, Blue Bird (BLBD) is cheapest (Blue Bird (BLBD) 13.0x, Dana (DAN) 14.2x, Markel (MKL) 18.8x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Blue Bird (BLBD) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Blue Bird (BLBD) +13.5%, Dana (DAN) +3.7%, Markel (MKL) +3.5%.

Which company is more profitable?

Blue Bird (BLBD) has the highest net margin (Blue Bird (BLBD) 17.5%, Dana (DAN) 14.6%, Markel (MKL) 14.7%). On return on invested capital, Blue Bird (BLBD) leads (Blue Bird (BLBD) 29.3%, Dana (DAN) 0.0%, Markel (MKL) 10.6%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Dana (DAN) returned the most: Blue Bird (BLBD) +2.9%, Dana (DAN) +36.1%, Markel (MKL) -0.2%. Over five years, Blue Bird (BLBD) compounded fastest (Blue Bird (BLBD) +25.1%/yr, Dana (DAN) +4.0%/yr, Markel (MKL) +7.6%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Only one of these companies pays a dividend: Blue Bird (BLBD) 0.00%, Dana (DAN) 0.02%, Markel (MKL) 0.00%. Blue Bird (BLBD) and Markel (MKL) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Markel (MKL) has been the steadiest (Blue Bird (BLBD) 42.8%, Dana (DAN) 44.2%, Markel (MKL) 19.9%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, BLBD, DAN and MKL?

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 7. 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.