First look: some small signs of improvement sequentially and year-on-year at RXO

3PL still recording a net loss; brokerage volume rises 1%

A first look at RXO's second quarter earnings. (Photo: FreightWaves)

Revenue figures for RXO (NYSE: RXO) were stronger on a year-on-year basis, but the acquisition of Coyote Logistics from UPS did not take place until the third quarter of last year, making the comparison less than perfect. 

Revenue was $1.41 billion compared to $930 million a year ago. Sequentially, when the comparison is on an equal basis reflecting the Coyote business, revenue at RXO was down slightly from $1.43 billion in the first quarter. 

More significant of RXO’s financial position on a year-on-year basis was the company’s gross margin of 17.8% in the second quarter, compared to 19% a year earlier. The second quarter gross margin in 2025 was identical to that of 2025’s first quarter.

RXO said its brokerage volume growth was up 1% year-over year. Full truckload volume was down 12% year-on-year. But the company’s less than truckload volume took a big jump of 45% compared to the second quarter of 2024.

The truck brokerage margin at RXO was improved sequentially at 14.4%, compared to 13.3% in the first quarter. But it was down from 14.7% a year earlier. 

RXO in both the second quarter of 2024 and 2025 was essentially a breakeven company on an operating basis. The net loss on a GAAP basis was $9 million in 2025’s second quarter and $7 million a year earlier. 

Adjusted net income in the quarter, a non-GAAP measure, was a positive $7 million, compared to adjusted net income of $4 million in the second quarter of 2024.

The breakeven operating income in 2Q 2025 was an improvement over the $30 million operating loss posted in the first quarter. The net loss per share was minus 5 cents in the second quarter of 2025, minus 6 cents a year earlier and minus 18 cents in the first quarter of 2024. 

Adjusted EBITDA in the second quarter was $38 million, rising from $28 million in the second quarter of 2024. That line item was $22 million in the first quarter. 

In the prepared statement released with the earnings, RXO CEO Drew Wilkerson said the company “executed well in the second quarter despite the prolonged soft freight market.” Besides citing the growth in brokerage volume, he said the company’s Last Mile has “continued its impressive run of year-over-year growth, achieving 17% stop growth.”

“We’re focused on growing profitably, and we’re realizing the benefits of our increased scale,” he said in the statement. “That scale, combined with our cutting-edge technology, is driving productivity improvements.”

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John Kingston

John has an almost 40-year career covering commodities, most of the time at S&P Global Platts. He created the Dated Brent benchmark, now the world’s most important crude oil marker. He was Director of Oil, Director of News, the editor in chief of Platts Oilgram News and the “talking head” for Platts on numerous media outlets, including CNBC, Fox Business and Canada’s BNN. He covered metals before joining Platts and then spent a year running Platts’ metals business as well. He was awarded the International Association of Energy Economics Award for Excellence in Written Journalism in 2015. In 2010, he won two Corporate Achievement Awards from McGraw-Hill, an extremely rare accomplishment, one for steering coverage of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster and the other for the launch of a public affairs television show, Platts Energy Week.