Roadrunner’s loss worse than expected

Roadrunner Transportation Systems, Inc. (NYSE: RRTS) reported a loss of $1.78 per share versus the break-even consensus estimate.

The asset-light logistics service provider’s first quarter 2019 loss was much lower than the more than $15 per share loss seen in first quarter 2018, even after a 1-for-25 reverse stock split, which was more than offset by the issuance of 36 million shares of common stock in its February rights offering.

RRTS reported revenue of $507.1 million in the first quarter of 2019, down 11 percent year-over-year. Its operating loss was $20.8 million compared to a $13.4 million operating loss in the first quarter of 2018. RRTS reported adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of $0.7 million compared to $3.1 million in the first quarter of 2018.

Management said that the revenue decline was attributable to an expected slowdown in the ground expedited market and lower volumes in the Less-Than-Truckload (LTL) segment given restructuring and planned service area outages. Further, management said that the Truckload & Express Services (TES) and Ascent Global Logistics (Ascent) segments reported lower adjusted EBITDA due to difficult comparisons.

“While we saw market softness in the first quarter in some of our well-performing businesses, our longer-term improvement plans are being executed and we continue to invest in our businesses. Although some of our businesses can exhibit volatility between quarters driven primarily by market conditions, our overarching focus is to invest in all segments to achieve better than average industry margins. We are encouraged by our team’s progress, especially with an improved balance sheet that now provides us with enhanced financial flexibility,” said Roadrunner’s Chief Executive Officer Curt Stoelting.

The company will hold a call to discuss these results with analysts and media at 10:00 a.m. EDT.