spot_img
Tuesday, February 11, 2025

Old Dominion Freight blames economic ‘softness’ on earnings slip

Old Dominion Freight Line shares were trading lower Wednesday after the Thomasville-based company reported that profit and revenue slipped in the third quarter as a result of declining freight demand despite improved pricing.

Revenue fell 3% to $1.47 billion, coming in below analyst expectations of $1.49 billion. Earnings per share was $1.43, missing the consensus of $1.47. The fall was driven by a 4.8% drop in less-than-truckload tons per day, and partially offset by a 4.6% increase in LTL revenue per hundredweight, excluding fuel surcharges.

Marty Freeman

“Old Dominion’s third quarter financial results reflect ongoing softness in the domestic economy. The challenging operating environment, and strong comparable results for the third quarter of 2023, resulted in the first year-over-year decrease in our quarterly revenue and earnings per diluted share this year,” Old Dominion CEO Marty Freeman says in a statement.

Old Dominion’s operating cash flow was $446.5 million for the third quarter and $1.3 billion for the first nine months of the year. Old Dominion had $74.2 million in cash as of Sept. 30.

Capital expenditures were $242.8 million for the third quarter and $600.4 million for the first nine months of the year. The Company expects its aggregate capital expenditures for 2024 to total about $750 million, including planned expenditures of $350 million for real estate and service center expansion projects; $325 million for tractors and trailers; and $75 million for information technology and other assets.

For the first nine months of 2024, Old Dominion returned capital to shareholders, spending $824.8 million on its share repurchase program and paying $168.2 million in dividends.

Old Dominion provided consistent service with 99% on-time service and a cargo claims ratio of 0.1% during the quarter, says Freeman.

“We continue to believe that the consistency and quality of our service performance has differentiated Old Dominion in the marketplace and driven our long-term profitable growth,” says Freeman.

Old Dominion is one of the largest North American LTL motor carriers.

Old Dominion shares were trading around $189.57 midday Wednesday, down around $10 or 5%. Shares have traded between $165.49 and $227.80 in the past year. It has a market capitalization of $40.6 billion. Its stock is down about 6.4% in the past year.

Related Articles

TRENDING NOW

Newsletters