Roadway to Miss 3Q Projections as Tonnage Slips

Roadway Corp., the parent of three trucking firms including Roadway Express, said Thursday its tonnage and revenue levels for its fiscal third quarter ending Sept. 7 have been lower than previous internal projections.

The Akron, Ohio-based less-than-truckload company said third-quarter profits will be 33 cents to 36 cents per share. Although this will be above the 30 cents it earned in the fiscal second quarter, it is well below analysts' estimates of 52 cents.

The company's net income was $8.2 million of 43 cents per share in the year-earlier period.

However, it said operating income in the current quarter should be better than the third quarter of 2001 due to operating profits generated by regional subsidiaries New Penn Motor Express and Arnold Transportation Services, recent freight rate increases and operating efficiencies at Roadway Express.

Roadway is the first trucking company to issue a warning for the third quarter. Shares of Roadway declined more than 15% on Nasdaq Thursday morning, and many trucking stocks also saw significant declines.

Roadway is ranked No. 7 on the 2002 Transport Topics 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian trucking companies.

(Click here for the full press release.)

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