Trucking giant Knight-Swift steers through coronavirus to profit growth
Q2 profit was up 1.2% from last year
Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. profit ticked up 1.2 percent in the three months through June even as the COVID-19 pandemic made for an unpredictable freight market.
The Phoenix-based transportation and logistics provider earned $80.2 million, or an adjusted 57 cents per share, in the second quarter as total revenue fell 14.6 percent to $1.06 billion. Knight-Swift incurred approximately $10 million of costs related to COVID-19.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KNX | KNIGHT-SWIFT TRANSPORTATION HOLDINGS INC. | 48.06 | +0.51 | +1.07% |
Wall Street analysts surveyed by Refinitiv were expecting adjusted earnings of 35 cents per share on revenue of $1.06 billion.
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Knight-Swift said freight demand was weak during April, with many businesses shuttered to curb the spread of the pandemic, before gradually improving over the remainder of the quarter.
Revenue in trucking, which makes up the lion’s share of Knight-Swift sales, fell 9.4 percent to $816 million while the adjusted operating ratio -- an industry benchmark for cost management -- improved by 30 basis points to 85.5 percent. Meanwhile, logistics revenue fell 16.5 percent to $67.07 million.
Revenue within the company’s intermodal segment, which handles containers that can be carried by truck, train or ship, fell 30 percent to $82.7 million.
Knight-Swift had $691.6 million cash at the end of the second quarter.
The company reported “strong” demand so far in July and said it expects adjusted earnings for full-year 2020 of $2.15 to $2.30 per share.
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Knight-Swift climbed 26 percent in New York trading this year through Tuesday, outperforming the S&P 500’s 0.82 percent gain.