'98 Year in Review: Stocks

A solid gain in Transport Topics’s Trucking Stock Index masked the fact that most trucking stocks faired poorly in 1998.

Thirty-five of the 50 stocks in the index went down between Dec. 26, 1997, and Dec. 24, 1998. But the overall TT index outperformed most broader market indicators — thanks primarily to the stellar showing by FDX Corp., which accounts for 20% of the weighted index. FDX is the parent of Federal Express Corp. and RPS Inc.

Aside from FDX’s 53.4% improvement, the 14 other companies that posted gains for the year were mostly truckload carriers, led by Landstar System (66.7%); Swift Transportation (39%); Knight Transportation (36.8%); M.S. Carriers (35.2%), Werner Enterprises (28.6%) and Covenant Transport (24.3%).

Only two less-than-truckload stocks were among the gainers: Consolidated Freightways Corp. (21.4%) and American Freightways (15.9%).

The truckload and package carriers also were the only groups whose dollar value increased. The TL composite rose 5.5%, while the package carriers, powered by FDX, grew almost 17%.

That compared with declines of 16.4% for the LTL group; 41.6% for the refrigerated group; 12.9% for the tank truck group; and 25.5% for the vehicle haulers.

Most of the drop in trucking stock prices occurred during the middle part of the year in response to investors’ concerns about the course of the economy (6-22, p. 12). With fears of a recession now easing, the stocks have recovered. On Dec. 31, the TT index reached 228.88, exceeding the previous high-water mark of 225.69 on April 17.

For the full story, see the Jan. 11 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.