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Werner beats Q3 estimates

Carrier guides 3% to 5% increase in revenue per total mile in Q4

Werner truck on highway (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ: WERN) reported adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of 69 cents on Wednesday after the market close. The result was ahead of consensus estimates ranging from 65 cents to 67 cents.

The company’s truckload (TL) segment saw revenue excluding fuel surcharges of $417 million, flat year-over-year. Revenue per tractor per week increased 4% in the company’s one-way segment and 6% in the dedicated unit as both divisions saw pricing improve.

LINK TO FULL ARTICLEWerner sees ‘stronger setup’ going into 2021

Revenue per total mile increased 3% in the one-way segment. Management expects revenue per total mile to increase in the 3% to 5% range year-over-year during the fourth quarter.


Price improvements and cost management drove 380 basis points of improvement in the TL adjusted operating ratio (OR) of 84.5%.

“The rapidly recovering economy and tight driver market produced strong freight conditions in third quarter 2020, which have continued into October,” said President and CEO Derek Leathers.

Logistics revenue was 3% lower year-over-year and gross margin fell 440 basis points to 10.8%. TL brokerage loads declined 15% in the quarter with revenue per load remaining level compared to the 2019 third quarter. The decline in gross margin was the result of surging spot rates, which forced the company to pay more for TL capacity in order to meet contractual rate agreements. The division posted a loss of $852,000.

Werner will host a conference call to discuss these results with analysts at 5 p.m. EDT Wednesday. Stay tuned to FreightWaves for more coverage on Werner’s earnings report.


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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.