Old Dominion Pricing, Tonnage Improve in Early 2016
Old Dominion Freight Line earlier this month reported tonnage improved 3.2% in February and 2% in January on a year-over-year basis, and pricing measured per 100 pounds of freight improved, excluding fuel surcharges.
Excluding fuel, revenue on that basis rose 3.4% in February and 4.6% in January, the company said in a statement. Including surcharge, pricing was flat in February and rose 1% in January.
Old Dominion based in Thomasville, North Carolina, ranks No. 11 on the Transport Topics top 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.
CEO David Congdon said the company “produced solid growth for the first two months of 2016, despite the ongoing impact of a slow economy and a decline in fuel surcharges."
"We believe the pricing environment remained stable during the first two months of 2016, and our yield trends were consistent with our expectations,” he said.
In an investor note, Stifel Nicolaus analyst David Ross said the weaker sequential results in February could be seen as “bad news”. He also noted that Old Dominion’s pricing was affected by an increase in shipment size that tends to reduce revenue per 100 pounds of freight.
