Landstar boosts net income, revenues in Q4 2016

Meanwhile, Landstar System, Inc.’s board of directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.09 per share payable March 17, 2017 to stockholders of record at the close of business on Feb. 20, 2017.    Landstar System, Inc., an asset-light provider of integrated transportation management solutions, surpassed analyst expectations in the fourth quarter of its fiscal year 2016 with earnings per share (EPS) totaling $0.94, up from $0.88 per share a year prior.
   Analysts survey by Thompson Reuters anticipated Landstar’s EPS for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016 would total $0.87.
   Landstar’s net income for the quarter reached $39.6 million on revenues of $892.8 million, year-over-year increases of 4.5 percent and 5.2 percent, respectively.
   Each year, Landstar’s fiscal year ends on the last Saturday in December, resulting in the company’s 2016 fourth fiscal quarter including 14 weeks of operations compared to 13 weeks for the 2015 fourth fiscal quarter. Landstar said the extra week in 2016 contributed to revenues growth of about $36 million.
   However, the 2015 fourth fiscal quarter included $38 million of revenues from a special project that ended at the end of 2015 for a customer in the automotive sector.
   “I am very pleased with Landstar’s performance in the 2016 fourth quarter given the challenges of a low growth macro environment and more readily available capacity,” Landstar President and CEO Jim Gattoni said.
   Overall, for the full year of fiscal 2016, Landstar reported a net income of $137.4 million on revenues of $3.2 billion, year-over-year declines of 7 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively.
   Landstar’s board of directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.09 per share payable March 17, 2017 to stockholders of record at the close of business on Feb. 20, 2017.
   For the first quarter of fiscal 2017, Gattoni said he expects the number of loads hauled via truck to increase by a mid to high-single digit range from the first quarter of fiscal 2016, and revenues per load on loads hauled via truck to be equal or slightly below the first fiscal quarter of 2016. “Assuming the current environment continues throughout the 2017 first quarter, I anticipate revenue for the 2017 first quarter to be in a range of $725 million to $775 million,” Gattoni said. “Assuming that range of estimated revenue and no material changes with respect to the expense assumptions set forth above, I would anticipate 2017 first quarter diluted earnings per share to be in a range of $0.70 to $0.75 per share.”