Marten Transport, the first publicly traded truckload carrier to report third-quarter earnings, saw a significant improvement in operating ratio in its key divisions, though truckload revenue rose by a relatively small amount.
As the first company to report Thursday, Marten’s numbers might be looked at as a signal to how other trucking companies did in the third quarter.
Truckload revenue of $85 million was up only $2.1 million from the third quarter of 2019. That is a gain of 2.5%.
But dedicated revenue rose far more, jumping $9.7 million to $69 million for an increase of 16.3%.
Overall, operating income was up to $24.4 million from $20 million, a 21.8% gain.
Total revenue of $216 million came in below the consensus forecast of $223 million, published by SeekingAlpha. But the earnings-per-share figure of 22 cents was 2 cents more than consensus.
FreightWaves will have additional information on this earnings release later on Thursday.
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