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Forward Air says accident claims will drive earnings down 15 percent

Image: Jim Allen/FreightWaves

Forward Air Corp. (NASDAQ: FWRD), an expedited less-than-truckload carrier, lowered its second quarter 2019 earnings expectation due to a $5 million accident claim reserve recorded in the quarter.

In an 8-k filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company announced that it anticipates second quarter 2019 earnings per share to be 15 percent below the low-end of its previous guidance range of $0.81 to $0.85 per share.

The company’s current consensus earnings per share estimate sits at $0.83 according to NASDAQ.

FWRD recorded the $5 million reserve in June 2019 for “pending vehicular claims.” “The claims underlying this reserve are still developing and may further impact the Company’s results,” according to the filing.


FWRD self-insures the first $7.5 million per claim until it meets a $6 million aggregate deductible for claims between $3 and $5 million and a $2.5 million aggregate deductible for claims between $5 and $10.0 million.

Self-insurance retention programs are commonly employed by large, well-capitalized carriers as a means to mitigate rising insurance expenses.

Often, analysts will exclude “one-off” expenses that are believed to be extraordinary, one-time or non-recurring in nature, like a large insurance claim.

J.B. Hunt (NASDAQ: JBHT) will be the first company to announce its second quarter earnings on July 15, 2019.


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.