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Wabash: Q2 trailer demand unlike any of past 40 years
Carrier appetite accelerates behind freight market rebound
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Key Takeaways:
- Wabash's backlog increased 14% from the prior quarter to $956 million, the first second-quarter backlog increase in company history.
- Trailer orders rose sharply during the quarter, prompting Wabash to open its 2027 dry van order book earlier than usual.
- Wabash reported a $22.6 million net loss and lower revenue, while truck body sales continued to trail trailer demand.
The ongoing freight market recovery is altering trailer demand positively in a fashion unseen in 40 years, Wabash’s top executive said July 29, although the company still posted a loss in the second quarter of 2026.
Wabash’s order backlog at the end of Q2 totaled $956 million, an increase of 14% compared with three months earlier.
“This was the first time in the company’s history that we have experienced backlog growth in the second quarter. That tells us that the customers are beginning to move from deferral to committed demand as they work to stop the three years of fleet aging,” CEO Brent Yeagy said. Wabash was founded in 1985.
April orders soared 126% year over year, May orders jumped 237% but June orders fell 9%, according to ACT Research data. In addition, June orders slid 35% compared with May.
Yeagy also said demand was rising so fast that Wabash would be able to increase prices incrementally through the second half of 2026 and even more in 2027.
In addition, the return of customer appetite after a gloomy couple of years raised the likelihood of a jump in margins as production expands as well as the possibility of a return to profitability.
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Yeagy
Wabash on July 9 said that it was opening its order book for 2027 dry van trailer production slots a couple of months earlier than usual, citing the turnaround in demand from carriers.
Lafayette, Ind.-based Wabash typically opens its order book for the coming year in the fall but said fleets were asking for earlier access to configurations, delivery windows and pricing this year.
Wabash sold 8,292 trailers in the most recent quarter, a 3.1% increase compared with 8,043 in the year-ago period and a 54.2% jump from 5,378 trailers in the first three months of 2026. Dry van market appetite drove the increase in sales, executives told analysts.
Still, the company’s losses more than doubled in the most recent quarter to $22.6 million from $9.6 million in the year-ago period but roughly halved compared with $45.1 million in the first quarter of 2026.
Wabash posted revenue of $417.2 million in Q2, a 9.1% decrease compared with $458.8 million the same quarter of the previous year.
While trailer demand increased, Wabash’s truck body sales slumped 56.7% to 1,380 from 3,188 and fell 9.6% compared with 1,527 in Q1.
Executives said that was not a surprise.
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Keslin
“Truck body volumes were in line with our expectations, with the second quarter expected to represent the low point for the year,” Chief Financial Officer Patrick Keslin said. “We continue to project the recovery in truck bodies to lag our traditional dry van business, though we anticipate moderate sequential improvement in the second half of 2026.”
Wabash is the only publicly listed trailer manufacturer and therefore provides a unique window into demand dynamics in the sector.
