Werner’s 3Q Earnings, Revenue Rise
ruckload carrier Werner Enterprises said late Monday its third-quarter net income rose to $24.6 million or 31 cents a share, up from $24.5 million or 30 cents a year earlier.
Revenue rose 7% to $541.3 million, Werner said in a statement.
In spite of increased revenue and earnings, Clarence Werner, chief executive officer of Werner Enterprises, cited “a softer freight market compared to the normal pickup in freight demand that typically occurs during third quarter.”
In addition, Werner said the decline in freight demand could be related to weakness in the housing and automotive industries, prompting competing truckload carriers who rely on those sectors for freight to look to markets more heavily serviced by Werner to fill their trucks.
Freight demand for shorthaul and regional shipments were relatively unchanged year-over-year, Werner said.
Fuel costs in the third quarter averaged 28 cents a gallon more than in the previous year, but net fuel costs had no impact on earnings per share, Werner said.
During the third quarter, the carrier said it began the transition to ultra-low-sulfur diesel.
Based on its own fuel miles-per-gallon experience, Werner said preliminary estimates of 1% to 3% mpg decline in fuel efficiency resulting from ULSD are accurate.
Last Sunday marked the beginning of an Environmental Projection Agency mandate that requires 80% of diesel fuel sold to contain no more than 15 parts-per-million of sulfur.
Werner is ranked No. 16 on the Transport Topics 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian trucking companies.
