First look: Knight-Swift Q4 earnings miss mark

Company sees margin pressure across all modes

Knight-Swift will host a call at 4:30 p.m. EST on Wednesday to discuss fourth-quarter results. (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

Knight-Swift Transportation reported a headline net loss of $6.8 million, or 4 cents per share, for the fourth quarter on Wednesday after the market closed. The result included $52.9 million in noncash charges stemming from its recent decision to roll the Abilene Motor Express brand under Swift Transportation. Excluding all one-time charges, adjusted EPS was 31 cents, 5 cents worse year over year and 4 cents below the consensus estimate.  

Consolidated revenue of $1.86 billion was shy of the $1.9 billion consensus estimate. All segments (excluding intermodal) saw y/y operating margin erosion. Intermodal results improved but the unit still operated at a slight loss in the quarter.

Click for full report – “Knight-Swift eyeing margin improvement in 2026”

Table: Knight-Swift’s key performance indicators – Consolidated

Knight-Swift (NYSE: KNX) issued first-quarter adjusted EPS guidance of 28 to 32 cents, bracketing a consensus estimate of 31 cents.

Knight-Swift will host a call at 4:30 p.m. EST on Wednesday to discuss fourth-quarter results.

Table: Knight-Swift’s key performance indicators – Truckload
Table: Knight-Swift’s key performance indicators – LTL

Click for full report – “Knight-Swift eyeing margin improvement in 2026”

Table: Knight-Swift’s key performance indicators – Logistics & Intermodal

More FreightWaves articles by Todd Maiden:

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Todd Maiden

Based in Richmond, VA, Todd is the finance editor at FreightWaves. Prior to joining FreightWaves, he covered the TLs, LTLs, railroads and brokers for RBC Capital Markets and BB&T Capital Markets. Todd began his career in banking and finance before moving over to transportation equity research where he provided stock recommendations for publicly traded transportation companies.