Expeditors International of Washington (NASDAQ:EXPD), an air- and ocean-freight shipping company, has been on a growth tear. In the past 12 months, its revenues have grown at 46% and its profits have gone along for the ride — up 43%.

Is that fast growth enough reason to add Expeditors to your portfolio? Here are three reasons to consider it:

• Decent earnings reports. Expeditors has been able meet or beat analysts’ expectations fairly consistently and has done so in four of its past five earnings reports.
• Increasing sales and profits and cash-rich balance sheet. Expeditors has been increasing sales and profits. Its revenue has increased at a 6.9% annual rate, from $4.6 billion (2006) to $6 billion (2010), while its net income has increased at a 10% rate, from $235 million (2006) to $344 million (2010) — yielding a slim 6% net profit margin. It has no long-term debt, and its cash rose at a 21% annual rate, from $511 million (2006) to $1.1 billion (2010)
• Out-earning its cost of capital. Expeditors is earning more than its cost of capital — and it’s progressing. How so? It’s producing EVA momentum, which measures the change in “economic value added” (essentially, after-tax operating profit after deducting capital costs) divided by sales. In 2010, Expeditor’s EVA momentum was 1%, based on first six months’ annualized 2010 revenue of $5.4 billion, and EVA that rose from first six months’ 2010 annualized $105 million to first six months’ 2011 annualized $170 million, using a 10% weighted average cost of capital.

One reason against:

• High valuation. Expeditor’s price/earnings-to-growth ratio of 1.96 (where a PEG of 1.0 is considered fairly priced) means its stock price is expensive. It currently has a P/E of 25.6, and its earnings per share are expected to grow 13.1% to $2.09 in 2012.

Expeditors has benefited from demand to ship goods to China, but it has been getting tougher for it to beat Wall Street expectations. At its current price, it makes sense to wait before investing.

Peter Cohan has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.