U.S. Xpress Records First Quarterly Loss Since Going Public
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Truckload carrier U.S. Xpress reported a net income loss of $1.4 million, or minus 3 cents per share, in the third quarter, when the Chattanooga, Tenn.-based company announced its earnings Nov. 1.
The earnings-per-share price missed Wall Street’s expectations of 6 cents per share.
The $1.4 million loss compared with a profit of $16.1 million, or 33 cents a share, in the third quarter of 2018.
The company’s revenue also slumped 6.8% to $428.5 million, compared with $460.2 million last year.
The operating ratio also worsened to 99.2, up from 95 in 2018.
Fuller
“The third quarter was marked by continued industry-wide overcapacity of tractors in relation to freight demand. This overcapacity continued to pressure our revenue-per-mile as well as our ability to optimize equipment utilization, particularly in the noncontracted spot portions of our over-the-road truckload operations. We believe the pricing environment was further impacted by unprecedented and unsustainable rate competition from digital freight brokers,” CEO Eric Fuller said.
The loss is the first for U.S. Xpress since it became a publicly traded company in 2018.
“While we are clearly not satisfied with our results, we are encouraged by the operational improvements that we are driving across our organization and are optimistic that they will more visibly evidence themselves in our financial results through next year,” Fuller said.
U.S. Xpress ranks No. 20 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in North America and No. 7 on the TT list of the largest carriers in the truckload/dedicated sector.
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