Quarterly earnings at the Transport & Logistics (T&L) segment of Trimble Inc. for the second quarter were the first for a full quarter since it closed the sale of its telematics division in February.
But while that complex divestiture was impacting some of its financial numbers, the earnings report also gave Trimble (NASDAQ: TRMB) an opportunity to signal a new upcoming offering from the T&L segment, Freight Marketplace.
On the earnings call with analysts, Trimble CEO Rob Painter mentioned Freight Marketplace briefly, saying the company was “accelerating our rollout in the U.S.” There was no other mention of it during the call or in the company’s earnings release.
Freight Marketplace, Painter said, “enables real time capacity sourcing for shippers, carriers and brokers.”
On the website dedicated to Freight Marketplace, Trimble described the product as one that “empowers shippers and carriers to seamlessly connect, negotiate, and succeed with a global network.”
“Combining the functions of a procurement solution with the dynamics of a marketplace to enable real-time capacity sourcing and collaboration,” the company said about Freight Marketplace on the website. “Expand your network, gain higher win rates, and optimize your ability to unlock unprecedented growth with our digital freight marketplace.”
It isn’t a load board
If that sounds something like a load board, a spokeswoman for Trimble said that was not the case.
A load board, the spokeswoman said in an email to FreightWaves, has as a drawback that “shippers and carriers do not necessarily know who they’re dealing with, and have to manage through volatile freight rates & negotiations, capacity constraints, carrier reliability issues, etc.”
The capabilities of Freight Marketplace, she added, include “AI-enabled carrier verifications of documents and certifications to reduce time and risk; ability to find trusted partners with detailed service offerings, verified information, and specified expertise; (and) fair and competitive bidding transparency for better RFQ, mini bid or spot request outcomes.”
Freight Marketplace was made possible through the Trimble acquisition in 2023 of Transporeon, which at the time was Europe-based. Freight Marketplace is built on the Transporeon platform.
The rollout of the product is in “early adoption,” the spokeswoman said. “There will be more news on Freight Marketplace coming very soon.”
As to the earnings report, figuring out how well Trimble’s T&L group did in the second quarter requires something other than an apples-to-apples comparison, given Trimble’s sale earlier this year of its telematics business that included its ELD product offering.
On the surface, the T&L group, which is a major provider of transportation management systems, saw a large drop in revenue in the second quarter of 2025 compared to 2024. But that would be expected, given its sale of the telematics business, known formally as Trimble Mobility, to venture capital-backed Platform Science. The sale closed in February.
That deal was not a cash transaction. Instead, Trimble took back a 32.5% stake in Platform Science.
Revenue at T&L fell to $132.7 million from $191.8 million a year earlier. Operating income declined to $28.6 million from $35.9 million.
Telematics divestiture may be positive for margins
But in one regard, the sale may have made the T&L segment more profitable. Operating margin at the T&L segment in the second quarter of 2025 was 21.6%. A year ago, with the now-sold telematics business still in the segment, the margin was 18.7%.
For the first half of 2025, the operating margin was 19.6%, compared to 18.7% in the first half of 2024.
In the company’s revised–and improved–forecast for the rest of the year, Trimble said the T&L segment is projected to have 8% organic revenue growth and 8% annual recurring revenue growth, the latter being an improvement on first quarter numbers. It also said its current margins were impacted by stranded costs from the divestiture of Mobility.
Surging stock price
Trimble’s stock has been on a roll for many months. The stock rose $1.43 Wednesday to $84.13, an increase of 1.73%. That marks a 12-month increase of 63.3%, a 3-month increase of 32.9, and a one-month increase of 6.7%, according to Barchart.
The relatively small increase in the Trimble stock price Wednesday came despite a stronger forecast for the rest of the year. Trimble’s updated outlook is to generate revenue for the company as a whole of between $3.48 and $3.56 billion this year, with non-GAAP earnings per share between $2.90 and $3.06. Its earlier forecast was revenue of $3.37 to $3.47 billion and non-GAAP earnings of between $2.76 and $2.98.
T&L is the smallest of the three segments. Its AECO segment had revenue in the quarter of $350.3 million, and its Field Systems segment brought in $392.7 million. AECO is derived from Architects, Engineers, Construction and Owners, the target audience.
Field Services primarily sells its products to the surveying industry as well as construction activities related to that. The AECO segment primarily serves customers working in architecture, engineering, construction, design, asset management, operations, and maintenance.
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