Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity
Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
Our common stock is currently quoted on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol “BLBD.” At December 7, 2023, there were 71 holders of record of the Company’s common stock. Management of the Company believes that there are in excess of 3,000 beneficial holders of our common stock.
Dividends
We have not paid any dividends on our common stock to date. It is our present intention to retain any earnings for use in our business operations and, accordingly we do not anticipate that the Board of Directors will declare any dividends in the foreseeable future on our common stock. In addition, certain of our loan agreements restrict the payment of dividends.
Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans
The following table provides information for all equity compensation plans at September 30, 2023, under which the equity securities of the Company were authorized for issuance:
Plan Category (1) (a) Number of Securities to be Issued Upon Exercise of Outstanding Options, Warrants, and Rights (b) Weighted Average Exercise Price of Outstanding Options, Warrants and Rights (c) Number of Securities Remaining Available for Future Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans (excluding
securities
reflected in
column (a)) (2)
Equity compensation plans approved by security holders 387,796 $ 17.81 718,034
(1) There are no equity compensation plans not approved by stockholders.
(2) Securities available for future issuance may take the form of non-qualified stock options, incentive stock options, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock, restricted stock units, performance shares, performance units, incentive bonus awards, other cash-based awards, and/or other stock-based awards.
Performance Graph
The following performance graph and related information is not deemed to be “soliciting material” or to be “filed” with the SEC or subject to Regulation 14A or 14C under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 or to the liabilities of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and will not be deemed to be incorporated by reference into any filing under the Securities Act of 1933 or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, except to the extent the Company specifically incorporates it by reference into such a filing: the SEC requires the Company to include a line graph presentation comparing cumulative five year common stock returns with a broad-based stock index and either a nationally recognized industry index or an index of peer companies selected by the Company. The Company has chosen to use the Russell 3000 Index as the broad-based index. The following stock performance graph compares the total stockholder return of an investment of $100 in cash from September 29, 2018 through September 30, 2023.
26
Cumulative Total Return
September 29,
2018 September 28,
2019 October 3,
2020 October 2,
2021 October 1,
2022 September 30,
2023
Blue Bird Corporation 100 78 49 87 34 87
Russell 3000 100 100 114 150 120 143
Peer Group 100 82 89 129 84 111
(1) Peer Group
Astec Industries Inc. Commercial Vehicle Group Inc. Douglas Dynamics, Inc.
Federal Signal Corp. NFI Group Inc. Rev Group Inc.
The Shyft Group, Inc. Thor Industries Inc. Wabash National Corp
Other than Lion Electric Company, Blue Bird is the only publicly traded school bus company. As such, our peer group is not constructed on a line-of-business basis. Given our business model and brand recognition, we believe that the specialty vehicle OEMs and branded industrial companies that we have selected represent the most comparable publicly traded companies to Blue Bird. While Lion Electric Company is within Blue Bird's peer group, it is not included in the chart above as it has only been publicly traded since May 2021. Additionally, NFI Group Inc. is traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange in Canadian Dollars. The hypothetical investment in NFI Group Inc. assumes investing $100 U.S. Dollars to acquire shares on September 29, 2018. The value of such shares at each of the above dates is then translated from Canadian Dollars to U.S. Dollars for inclusion in the peer group index.
Item 6. [Reserved]