Earnings Watch: Swift Profit Up 4.7%, Paccar Down Nearly 20%
At a time when many trucking companies are reporting lower third quarter earnings, Swift Transportation (NYSE: SWFT) bucked the trend with a 4.7% increase driven by its dedicated operations, while truck and engine manufacturer Paccar (NASDAQ: PCAR) saw earnings fall by 19.7%.
Arizona-based Swift reported net income increased to $38 million, or 28 cents per share, up from $36.3 million, or 25 cents per share, a year earlier. This includes the $7.1 million retirement package for President CEO Jerry Moyes, who is set to leave at the end of the year. The company’s adjusted earnings of 34 cents per share beat a consensus estimate from analysts.
Total revenue moved lower, to $1.01 billion from $1.06 billion a year ago. Revenue minus fuel surcharge fell to $929.7 million from the year-ago $955 million.
“Excess industry capacity, excess customer inventories, and sluggish demand have combined to cause persistent pressure on freight volumes and pricing,” the company said in its letter to shareholders.
According to the company, during the quarter its average operational truck count declined by 110 trucks from the second quarter and by 581 trucks compared to a year ago, “to drive improvements in asset utilization as the truckload market continued to be challenging throughout the third quarter.”
Swift’s dedicated operation saw a 8.9% year over year increase in revenue minus fuel surcharges, hitting $234.4 million. Weekly revenue less fuel surcharges per tractor improved 8.1% year over year, due to improvements in pricing and freight mix, Swift said. Its average operational truck count increased 130 trucks over the second quarter, due to growth with its existing dedicated customer base.
Swift’s truckload segment, however, saw lower revenue compared to a year ago. Revenue minus fuel surcharges for the third quarter of 2016 was $469.1 million, down from $489.5 million in the third quarter of 2015.
Total loaded …Read the rest of this story
