Heartland Express revenues decline in Q2

The trucking company’s revenues dropped in the second quarter year-over-year, but its balance sheet remains strong.    Heartland Express saw operating revenues fall 15.5 percent in the second quarter of 2015 to $191.7 million compared with the second quarter of 2014, the industry investment advisory firm Stifel said in a statement.
   Excluding fuel surcharges, revenues decreased 8.1 percent to $166 million.
   Stifel said it expects volumes were down 11-13 percent for the quarter, with revenue yield likely up 3-5 percent compared with the second quarter of 2014.
   Earnings per share were down 10 percent from the previous year’s second quarter to $0.27.
   Stifel said the company’s balance sheet remains strong, with Heartland Express having paid all of the debt related to the Gordon Trucking acquisition as of the end of the first quarter of 2015. “The company now finds itself in a strong position to continue its aggressive fleet upgrade program, to opportunistically buy in its common shares on the open market, and/or to increase its regular dividend or to pay another special dividend,” Stifel said.
   Heartland Express is a nation-wide short-to-medium-haul truckload carrier that operates with an estimated 58 percent of its business in the East and 42 percent of its business in the West. The company primarily serves the retail, food, consumer goods, manufacturing, automotive and paper and plastics sectors.