ArcBest reported a headline net loss of $8.1 million, or 36 cents per share, for the 2025 fourth quarter ahead of the market open on Friday.
The number included a noncash impairment charge in its asset-light business and other one-off items. Adjusted EPS was 36 cents in the quarter, 97 cents lower year over year and 6 cents below the consensus estimate.
Consolidated revenue of $973 million was $6 million ahead of expectations.
Click for full report – “ArcBest, LTLs still waiting on recovery”
ArcBest’s (NASDAQ: ARCB) asset-based unit, which includes less-than-truckload subsidiary ABF Freight, reported a 1% y/y revenue decline to $649 million (revenue per day was down 0.3%). Tonnage per day was up 3% but revenue per hundredweight (yield) was down 3%. A 0.3% increase in weight per shipment combined with a 0.4% decline in length of haul were modest headwinds to yield.
Tonnage per day improved on a y/y comparison in each month of the quarter and was 8% higher in January on a preliminary basis. However, January yield was down 8% resulting in flat revenue per day during the month. A 5% increase in weight per shipment, due to a mix shift toward truckload shipments, dragged down the yield result.
Click for full report – “ArcBest, LTLs still waiting on recovery”
The unit reported a 96.2% adjusted operating ratio (inverse of operating margin), which was 420 basis points worse y/y and 370 bps worse than the third quarter. The sequential change was slightly better than management’s guidance, which called for 400 bps of degradation. The 2025 fourth quarter had three fewer work days than the third quarter. (The LTL unit normally sees 100 to 200 bps of sequential margin deterioration from the third to the fourth quarter.)
Labor and benefits costs were 310 bps higher y/y as a percentage of revenue. Additional labor to support shipment growth and annual union pay adjustments were the headwinds.
The LTL OR normally deteriorates by 260 bps sequentially in the first quarter, however, management is guiding to 100 to 200 bps of degradation this year. The guide implies a 97.7% OR at the midpoint, the worst of the cycle.
The asset-light segment, which includes truck brokerage, reported breakeven results on an adjusted basis. That was ahead of management’s guidance calling for an adjusted operating loss of $1 million to $3 million. Revenue was down 6% y/y as a 1% increase in daily shipments was offset by a 6% decline in revenue per shipment.
Guidance calls for an operating loss of up to $1 million in the segment for the first quarter.
Shares of ARCB were off 2.3% in premarket trading on Friday.
The company will host a call on Friday at 9:30 a.m. EST to discuss fourth-quarter results.
